Don't let history repeat itself
by chibiangelfromheaven
Summary: If you found a book that told you the truth about the past, and the past was starting to repeat, what would you do? A future-fic with a bit of a twist.
1. Prologue

I don't known Naruto, and never will. The only characters I own in this story are my original characters (who won't really appear for a few chapters yet)

This is my first attempt at a chapter fic, so if it seems disjointed and a bit stunted that's because I'm not used to putting chapter markers in the stories I write (I want to be a published author one day)

BTW: if my spelling and grammar seems weird to you, it might be because I'm Australian and using Australian English.

Please note: I have been forced repost of the original due to a formatting error. There are no changes to the story otherwise. Sorry about that. Proper re-editing will be done later on, when I have more time.

* * *

(Excerpt from the journal of Umino Iruka during the tenth year the Godaime Hokage's leadership)

It's that day again.

Naruto said he'll be staying home today. I'm going to see him after lunch.

I can't wait to see the look on his face when he sees the gift I got him this year. I know he'll like it. He's always liked toads and ramen, so he'll like the ramen bowl I had made when I was in Wave Country. A ramen bowl with toads painted on it…It's made for Naruto.

(End excerpt)

--ooo--

"Naruto, are you home? I've got something for you. Naruto? Naruto? Are you still in bed, Naruto? Time to get…Naruto!"

--ooo--

**Hey, kid…You still out there somewhere? I found the others, and we're going into hiding for now. I'll see you again someday, I'm sure. Next time, maybe things will be different. Maybe…Hopefully…**

--ooo--

"It would seem that things did not go as we hoped." the blindfolded woman said.

"Indeed not." the black-caped figure agreed.

"Where did we go wrong?" asked the cherub of the old man holding him.

"I know not, little one." the old man replied.

"We cannot change what has happened." the caped figure said.

"No, we cannot." the woman agreed mournfully, "Such is the way of the world. A clock cannot turn backwards."

"But the clock hands return to the beginning twice a day." the cherub pointed out, then stuck his thumb into his mouth.

"That is true." the old man said, "However, can we do it? Will your assistant let the man's soul go, old friend?"

The caped figure turned to the monstrous creature behind him and said, "This time, yes. But not again."

"Then," the woman said, "we shall let them try again and hope that this time goes better than last time."

* * *

Sound interesting? Wait and see what's to come.

I got the idea for this story from reading Artistic Differences, so that might give you a clue as to what's coming. Not the same, but a similar premise.

For the record, the four people (the baby, the blindfolded woman, the black-caped figure and the old man) are supposed to be Future, Fate, Death and Old Man Time, just to make that clear


	2. Chapter 1

Don't own Naruto, never will. All I own are my OC characters that come up later on.

* * *

(Excerpt from _The History of Konoha: Yondaime Hokage's reign_)

Namikaze Minato and the toad summon boss Gamabunta faced the Kyuubi no Yoko outside the southern wall of Konoha for six hours before the Kyuubi was weakened enough for Namikaze Minato to use a specially designed jutsu which, in return for his soul, destroyed the Kyuubi.

Namikaze Minato's wife, Kushina, died within a year of her husband due to mission-related injuries.

The couple were childless, as Kushina had given birth to a stillborn boy during the Kyuubi attack.

(End Excerpt)

--ooo--

Kaemon Sarutobi, recently inaugurated as the Juusandaime Hokage of Konoha, browsed the official history books left behind by those who served as Hokage before him, hoping to find his namesake ancestor's work. After all, the Professor wouldn't _not_ leave something behind from back then.

Finally, he found his ancestor's book from back then and removed it from the shelf, only to find another book hidden behind it.

The book, _The True History of Konoha During the Reigns of the Sandaime and Godaime Hokages_, was a far cry from the official history he'd been taught, Kaemon found as he read it. It started when Kyuubi attacked, and ended at the death of a young man named Uzumaki Naruto.

Reading the history, Kaemon realised that it filled in the gaps that the history he'd been taught never filled in, such as who defeated the Suna Jinchuuriki and what Akatsuki was after. It also spoke of people and things the official history avoided, such as naming the Uchiha Clan's murderer as their prodigy Itachi and talking about how Tsunade came to be Hokage.

It seemed more than a coincidence that Kaemon had found this book, and he was interested to see if history was going to repeat itself.

As it was, however, he simply put the book to one side and all but forgot about it in favour of doing the paperwork his sensei and predecessor had left behind for him. The old git.

--ooo--

The threat of war loomed on the horizon. Relations between the villages had been strained or non-existent for years, even Konoha's onetime ally Suna had broken ties years ago for some unknown reason. The history books failed to explain why, so it was assumed to be an argument between the Godaime Hokage and the Godaime Kazekage that was never resolved.

That wasn't of consequence now, though, Kaemon thought.

He was more worried about the present, because his old genin team was causing him trouble. Jiraiya was a pervert and intent on turning his favoured student's prodigy student into one too, Tsunade was grieving for her younger brother who died in a mission gone wrong, and Orochimaru was bent on getting powerful at all costs.

On top of that, Orochimaru's genin team's boys were missing, and his female student Anko was currently in hospital fighting for her life. Orochimaru _claimed_ it was a mission accident, but Kaemon doubted it. Something just didn't ring true about the report Orochimaru put in, especially since he'd written that Suna ninjas were the ones who had attacked and the marks on Anko's body didn't match the sort of wounds a Suna ninja would leave behind.

Kaemon decided to leave the paperwork for a few hours and go see if poor Anko had woken up.

He wanted to find out what _really_ happened on that mission.

* * *

Chapter 1 of my first chapter fic.

Good? Bad? Not enough to decide yet?


	3. Chapter 2

I don't own Naruto and never will

For the record...The book excerpts and similar that occur before, and sometimes during, the chapters do have significance. If anyone took much note of the excerpt in Chapter 1, they'd notice something important: it said that Yondaime died childless whereas canon has proved the long-held theory that Naruto is Yondaime's son. I won't be including authors for the books, although journals will have their writers mentioned, because in most cases the author isn't important or it is brought up in the story.

* * *

(Excerpt from _The Sannin_)

From Section 4, Chapter 2: Obsession

Orochimaru was obsessed with gaining power and knowing every jutsu in the world, there was no other way to say it. His desire for immortality is thought to have stemmed from this, and it was his obsession with power that probably caused his eventual downfall and death.

His 'crowing glory', as he would have put it, was the curse seal that he created and used on many people, including Uchiha Sasuke in later years.

Amongst the first survivors of the cursed seal was Mitarashi Anko, the only remaining member of the genin team Orochimaru taught. While there is suspicion that Orochimaru placed the seal on all three genin and only Anko lived, there is no evidence that his claim of Suna ninjas attacking the team on their final mission as a team is not true.

(End excerpt)

--ooo--

"Hokage-sama, are you alright?" the medic-nin asked warily, glancing at his clenched fists and white knuckles.

Kaemon didn't respond, staring at the three little marks that were now showing through the bruising and wounds on Anko's neck.

History was re-enacting itself in new and deadly ways, it seemed. Orochimaru had somehow gotten hold of his namesake's cursed seal information and was using it to further his own research into becoming powerful.

Kaemon called for an ANBU who was nearby. When the bird-masked ninja arrived the Hokage said, "Find Orochimaru and hold him under charges of using a juin jutsu."

The ANBU nodded and left to spread the word to the other ANBU, knowing enough about juin jutsu to understand that Orochimaru faced the death penalty for what he had done.

Kaemon asked for the nearest Uchiha, and requested that Anko be kept under police supervision at all times until Orochimaru was brought to justice.

"It will be done, Hokage-sama." the Uchiha replied, bowing deeply, "A man will be sent to watch over her."

"No. A woman would be better in case she wakes up." Kaemon corrected.

The Uchiha nodded and went away to get a woman to stay with the unconscious girl.

Kaemon sighed and looked again at the girl.

It looked like he should've paid more attention to that history book, after all.

--ooo--

"Orochimaru is gone, Hokage-sama, and Mitarashi Anko has a female guard as you requested." the bird-masked ANBU said as he appeared in Kaemon's office.

"Thank you, Bird." Kaemon said, "Now, go find Hyuuga Hizashi please."

Hizashi arrived quickly, although he did grumble good-naturedly about being dragged away from his new wife.

"I want you to look at the seal on Anko's neck and find a way to get rid of it. This probably isn't the last time we'll see it."

"I'll do what I can, Hokage-sama," Hizashi replied, "but wouldn't my team-mate be a better person to ask about this?"

"Baimiao Fai is currently on his honeymoon, unless you've forgotten already. You were his best man, after all." Kaemon replied.

Hizashi nodded, remembering how Fai had returned from a trip to his homeland with a young woman named Jin Mei who he was engaged to from birth.

"I guess time is more important than actual skill, then." Hizashi chimed. He was unnaturally plucky for a Hyuuga sometimes. He and his elder twin Hiashi were real trouble makers sometimes, although since they became jonin that had certainly died away.

"Both are important, which is why I called on you." Kaemon replied.

"I'll do my best, then." Hizashi said seriously.

* * *

The name Baimiao comes from the Chinese bai miao, line drawing in traditional ink and brush style/simple and straightforward style of writing. Guess whose parents they are...

Like? Hate? Needs work? Tell me if you want to. I don't mind.


	4. Chapter 3

Don't own Naruto, never will.

* * *

(Excerpt from _Advanced Seals, 23__rd__ Edition_)

From Chapter 14: An overview of forbidden seals

Call Orochimaru what you will, but his blackened legacy is well known. Amongst his most vile creations is a curse seal that was derived from the blood and bizarre abilities of a young man named Jugo.

It is unclear if any of Orochimaru's papers and research about the cursed seal he created has survived, but it should be burned upon being found if it hasn't already.

(End excerpt)

--ooo--

It took a month, but Hizashi managed to remove the curse seal from Anko's neck, and then turned his discovery for what his brother wanted to do: remove the Branch House mark. It would take time to do, but he was sure he now had a good lead on how to get rid of that seal on his forehead.

Kaemon was glad that some good was coming out of this mess, but he regretted not seeing sooner what was going on. Orochimaru had always been power hungry, and giving him a genin team was probably the worst idea Kaemon ever had.

Jiraiya chose that moment to wander into his sensei's office.

"Oi, sensei." he said, "You hear about Hatake?"

"Which one?" the older man asked.

"The older one." Jiraiya replied, "His team just reported in. Looks like they found enough evidence of foul play to sink a Wave Country tanker, but he didn't make it back."

"Were they seen?"

"The team's youngest member got captured, and Sakumo went back to get him. A Hatake isn't exactly hard to identify." Jiraiya said, "Minato's with the kid now, trying to limit the damage. He's taking it hard. His mum died when he was a toddler, and now his old man's gone too…"

"What kind of evidence did they get?" Kaemon cut in worriedly.

"Enough to prove that Suna's been stockpiling weapons, poisons and other dangerous stuff to try and hurt us and the other villages." Jiraiya replied bluntly.

"So we're truly going to war." Kaemon sighed, "I hoped not to face what my ancestors faced, but it seems fate has decided to toss trouble at me and see how I cope."

"Probably." Jiraiya admitted, stuffing his hands in his pockets, "By the way…I'm going after Orochimaru."

"He won't come back, you know." Kaemon said, expecting this.

"Don't want him to. I'm going to make sure he doesn't do any more damage than he's already done." Jiraiya replied, "I'm better off out there."

"What of Tsunade? She needs you here."

"Dan's here. He'll look after her."

Kaemon doubted it, but didn't say anything because he knew nothing would change the man's mind.

"Hey, remember that mission to Rain a couple of years back? The one where we found those kids?"

"I remember them." Kaemon said, "What of it?"

"The kids are gone. Probably dead. I got the message yesterday."

"Don't count on that." Kaemon said, thinking of what the secret history books said.

--ooo--

Two months later, with the death of her fiancé, Tsunade left Konoha with Dan's niece Shizune in tow.

It was debatable if she would ever return to Konoha.

* * *

Ack! Even shorter chapter!

This is really little more than a filler chapter to set up why some people aren't alive or in Konoha right now, so bear with me. It gets better...I hope.

For the record (and because people have asked me), I realise that the story seems bewildering. Back in chapter 1, Kaemon Sarutobi is "recently inaugurated as the Juusandaime Hokage of Konoha". That means he is the _thirteenth_ Hokage rather than the _third_. In the same paragraph it also refers to Kaemon's "namesake ancestor" the Professor, that being Sandaime.

This is my first attempt at publishing a chapter fic, and it's driving me crazy too. The short chapters are because of my incompetence, and I'll probably be putting up a few oneshots soon to help me get into the swing of writing longer pieces and such. Sorry for the bad quality of work in this piece.


	5. Chapter 4

Don't own Naruto, never will

* * *

(Excerpt from _The Finest Leaves: Konoha's Greatest Ninjas_)

From Chapter 8: Hatake Kakashi, the Copy-Nin

Kakashi's first jonin mission was not a success.

He and his team-mates, Uchiha Obito and Chiba Rin, were sent to blow up a bridge during the closing stages of the Great Ninja War.

Their sensei, the man who became the Yondaime Hokage, was with them when they found and killed a scouting Iwa ninja, and warned them that others might be nearby.

Not long after the team separated from their sensei, Rin was taken hostage by an Iwa ninja who had spotted the three young teenagers.

Obito wanted to go get her, but Kakashi chose instead to continue with the mission, and was left alone while Obito went to retrieve their team-mate.

While Kakashi did turn back, he arrived too late to stop Obito engaging the enemy, and ended up taking a blow for his Uchiha friend/rival that damaged his eye beyond repair. In the ensuing battle, Obito activated his clan's kekkei genkai, the Sharingan, for the first time.

After the two boys retrieved Rin, the remaining Iwa ninja caused a rockslide which would have killed Kakashi had Obito not pushed him aside. In exchange for Kakashi's life, however, Obito gave his own. One side of his body was crushed under the fallen rocks, and there was no way to free or save him. Only the timely arrival of their sensei saved the lives of the young jonin and kunoichi.

Rin, a fledgling medic-nin, transplanted Obito's remaining Sharingan eye into Kakashi's damaged eye socket.

From then on, Kakashi adopted many of Obito's traits, including his habitual tardiness, lamentable excuses and insistence that the team came before the mission.

(End excerpt)

--ooo--

"So your silver-haired prodigy is a jonin now, eh?" Kaemon teased, "How's it feel to have a student at that level?"

"It makes me feel old, Hokage-sama." Minato admitted, "The other two are chunin, too." He chuckled. "Kakashi's leading the next mission without me there, but I worry about him. He's been so withdrawn since Sakumo died. I don't know what to do."

"Tell you what," Kaemon said, "I've got an idea. How about you stay here with me and watch your team through the Hokage Crystal? That way you'll know what's going on, and he'll get to lead. Problem solved."

"You'd use that thing for me in the middle of a war?" Minato asked, stunned.

"Actually, I was going to use it as a training exercise." Kaemon admitted, "After all, every Hokage has to know how to use the Crystal."

Minato digested Kaemon's words, and was lost for words.

"I'd love to stay and watch them, Hokage-sama," he finally said, "but I have a mission too. You personally assigned me to go with that team to stop the battalion that we hope isn't coming."

"I'm sure I can find a few men to replace you." Kaemon replied cheerfully, "Just go to the split point, tell them what you have to tell them and then come back here. We'll watch them work, and you can use that flashy old jutsu you use in order to help where you're needed."

A couple of years previously, Minato had come across an old scroll detailing the Yondaime Hokage's two favourite jutsu: Hiraishin and Rasengan. He now used them, and had been called Konoha's New Yellow Flash on more than one occasion. More than a few people had commented on how he was the splitting image of the Yondaime Hokage, too.

--ooo--

(Excerpt from _My Hokages_)

From Part 1, Chapter 3: Blood, Sweat, Tears and Bells

Chichiue often said that the hardest thing he ever did prior to becoming Hokage was watch his team do a mission without him.

Kakashi-nii-san led Obito-nii-san and Rin-nee-san on his first jonin mission during the war, and they were to blow up a bridge which had, ironically, been blown up in a previous ninja war to prevent enemies attacking Konoha.

It didn't seem like a hard mission, until they ran into a team of Iwa ninjas and Rin-nee-san was taken hostage. Obito-nii-san chose to go back for her but Kakashi-nii-san, still numb from the death of his father two years prior, put the success of the mission over the lives of his team-mates and chose to blow up the bridge.

Whatever snapped him out of it I'm not sure, but Kakashi-nii-san did go back to help Obito-nii-san save Rin-nee-san, although it cost him dearly.

While this is not the place to tell the details, it should suffice to say that without Chichiue's arrival I would not have Obito-nii-san or Rin-nee-san.

(End excerpt)

--ooo--

Kakashi put a hand over his ruined eye, trying to see through the other.

Minato was glad he'd listened to Kaemon and secretly watched his students, otherwise Obito would be dead and Kakashi would've blamed himself, surely.

Minato helped the trio finish the mission and get back to Konoha, where Obito somehow talked a cousin who was dying from something or other into giving Kakashi one of his eyes.

After how Kakashi jumped in the path of a kunai to protect Obito, his rather relaxed cousin was more than happy to give the boy an eye.

Kaemon was impressed, since he'd never expected someone else to give Hatake Kakashi a Sharingan eye, but it actually helped the future that he did have it. Couldn't have Kakashi repeating the things he'd done without it, after all.

Now to worry about if and when Kyuubi attacked…

* * *

I was asked about them having the same names...Well, that's explained later (chapter 8 actually) but it boils down to family pride. If you had a family member who was famous, wouldn't you want to name your kid after them?


	6. Chapter 5

Don't own Naruto, never will

This chapter has a special thanks to Spitfire-Hanyou17 and Ri-16-Chan, for their reviews, and Michi-P for his/her willingness to "give this a try". All very much appreciated.

To the person who left an anonymous review marked "suzy": I appreciate your feedback, but why?

As an aside...this chapter has a small extra paragraph added to the bottom. If you've read this story before, this chapter is the only one with anything added on. I thought it needed the new bit.

* * *

(Excerpt from _The Hated Hero_)

From Chapter 2: Origins

It wasn't until after Naruto's death that we discovered who he was related to.

We'd always been taught that the Yondaime Hokage and his wife had no children, but the Godaime Hokage informed us at Naruto's funeral that he was the son of the Yondaime Hokage and his wife Uzumaki Kushina. He'd been given his mother's surname rather than his father's to protect him from his father's enemies. He had enough enemies of his own, right from birth, to worry about his old man's.

When looking at pictures of Naruto and Yondaime side by side (see Appendix 1: Photo Album), the resemblance is uncanny. Everyone agreed about that when we did so for the first time. However, the resemblance to his mother was unseen in photos as it was her personality that Naruto turned out to have inherited.

Kushina supposedly died of mission related injuries a year after Kyuubi attacked, but Kakashi quietly admitted to us that she was killed during an attempt on Naruto's life.

(End excerpt)

--ooo--

"So…" Kushina teased, "You're going to become Hokage in a few months."

"That's what he told me." Minato admitted, "He said the Council approves and he just has to get me ready for the handover. Something about paperwork and diplomacy lessons."

"So, my dear Hokage-sama…" Kushina purred, "Do you want to celebrate?"

--ooo--

**I know that chakra signature…It's tiny, though. Kid…You're coming back…I'll come find you when you're older, kid…This time I won't make the same mistake as last time…I promise.**

--ooo--

"Obito! Kakashi!" Rin cried, racing over to where the two boys were sparring, "You'll never guess what I just heard at the hospital!"

The boys stopped training.

"Gai smashed his arms and legs and can't be a ninja anymore?" Kakashi asked hopefully. Everyone knew that Kakashi barely tolerated the green-clad ninja's silly challenges and one-sided rivalry, and would be amongst the first to cheer if Might Gai couldn't be a ninja anymore.

"No, he's still fit and healthy." Rin said, glaring at the masked boy, "It's sensei's wife. She's pregnant."

"Are you serious?" Obito asked eagerly, "Do you know when she's due?"

"The first half of October, the nurse said." Rin replied, "Isn't it great?"

"Oh joy, a mini-sensei running around." Kakashi deadpanned, "That'll be fun. We'll probably end up babysitting the brat."

"Why're you here, anyway?" Obito asked Rin, "You could've told us when we came to visit you later. You're not supposed to be out of bed yet, let alone running around. After that last mission you were on, you're lucky to be alive."

Thinking back to her mission with Anko and Kurenai that had upset her already mangled chakra flow, Rin assured them she was fine and had been given the all clear.

"I'm going to go thank Hokage-sama for insisting they check my chakra flow when I went in for a physical after my mission, otherwise I'd be dead right now." Rin said. She paused for a moment. "I wonder if he knows sensei's wife is pregnant yet…"

"I'm surprised sensei isn't crowing it off the Hokage monument." Obito laughed, "The old man will know by now."

--ooo--

Kaemon pretended to be surprised when Minato appeared in his office looking thoroughly excited.

"I'm going to be a father!" the blonde man declared, jumping around like a hyperactive sugar-filled monkey, "Kushina's pregnant."

"Boy or a girl?" Kaemon asked, already knowing the answer.

"The nurse said it's too early to tell, but we're hoping for a boy." Minato said, finally calming down, "This is amazing. First Hizashi and Hotaru have Neji, then Fai and Jin Mei have Tenten…Hiashi was at the hospital with Haruka and she's pregnant too…Fugaku and Mikoto are expecting a little brother for Itachi…Tsume's going to have another kid…"

"That's good, considering that Akira never made it back from his last mission." Kaemon cut in, "How did she cope, now that I think about it?"

"That's how they found out she's pregnant, because she almost lost the baby." Minato replied bluntly, "It took everything the medic-nins had to stop the miscarriage. She's fine now."

Kaemon understood, and said he'd assign a guard to Kushina once her pregnancy became obvious.

"There's no telling what might happen if one of your enemies tried to hurt her and your unborn child." the Hokage said.

"Thanks, Hokage-sama." Minato said, "I don't know how she'll like that, though."

"I think I can handle an angry woman, thank you very much." Kaemon scoffed, "I'm well capable of fending off her attacks."

"Attacks maybe, but not the pranks she's capable of." Minato replied.

"We'll face that when we come to it." Kaemon replied candidly.

--ooo--

Within a week of Kushina starting to show her pregnancy, Kaemon was beginning to regret his decision to set a guard on her.

The woman had been a prankster as a child, and now she was making his life almost unbearable with her retaliation for the bodyguards.

* * *

Guess who the bold text represents


	7. Chapter 6

Don't own Naruto, never will

I never thought I'd ever be quoting a textbook, but it seems that this story needs it right about now. My apologies.

* * *

(Excerpt from _Advanced Seals, 23__rd__ Edition_)

From Chapter 5: Jinchuuriki seals

It is a well documented fact that there are two kinds of jinchuuriki seal: the pre-birth and the post-birth kind.

The fact of the matter is that jinchuuriki seals kill people in order to properly work. Each type kills a different person. The post-birth seal, which requires the shinigami to be called upon, kills the caster in return for the sealing. The pre-birth seal kills the mother at birth, fuelling the seal with her energy rather than the caster's energy.

The stronger of the two seals is considered to be the post-birth seal; however this type of jinchuuriki seal must be performed within hours of birth in order to be effective while the weaker pre-birth seal can be performed at almost any stage in the pregnancy prior to labour occurring.

A good example of the two types of seals and the variation in strength is the cases of the Konoha and Suna jinchuuriki at the time of the Sandaime Hokage and the Yondaime Kazekage. The two boys, one of whom became the Godaime Kazekage and the other of whom died under unfortunate circumstances, are the clearest case study of the two types of seals. While the Suna jinchuuriki had only Ichibi, otherwise known as Shukaku, sealed within him, the pre-birth seal placed upon him was by far weaker than the post-birth seal used on the Konoha jinchuuriki to seal Kyuubi.

A study of the effects of the two biju on their hosts shows that Shukaku had far more effect on his host's personality than Kyuubi had on his, although a few less malevolent traits commonly associated with Kyuubi did appear in the jinchuuriki of Konoha in the form of whisker-like birthmarks and a fondness for pranks that was well documented as a trait of Kyuubi in his early years.

(End excerpt)

--ooo--

**What's that noise? That smell? It can't be…It's impossible…Not now…Not again…Can't the gods give a biju a break?**

--ooo--

"What's that about, Sarutobi?" Minato asked, peering over the old man's shoulder, "What are you up to this time?"

"I was just reading up on advanced sealing techniques." Kaemon replied, "You never know when you might need one."

"You can barely seal a kunai into a scroll, let alone anything bigger." Minato scoffed, "You're up to something. I know it."

Kaemon sent the newly appointed Hokage away, not wanting him to see what he was doing.

--ooo--

"Hokage-sama!" a ninja cried, running into the meeting, "Hokage-sama, there's urgent news."

"What is it?" Minato asked, turning to face the puffing jonin.

"A demon has been sighted heading towards Konoha." the jonin gasped, "It looks like the old pictures of Kyuubi."

Kaemon had hoped that this particular bit of history wouldn't repeat itself, but it looked like something had decided to send Kyuubi back their way. Karma, perhaps, for the death of the jinchuuriki.

"We'll have to destroy it." a counsellor said, "It has been destroyed before."

"Actually, most sources other than the Konoha official histories say that Kyuubi was sealed within a newborn boy whose name has been lost to history." another counsellor said, "The Yondaime Hokage gave his life to seal the biju within the infant, who grew up an orphan inside Konoha."

Kaemon stared at the counsellor who had spoken, an Inuzuka of all people, and wondered how much he knew about the truth.

"There's no time to waste, then." Minato said, "Can someone find me that seal?"

--ooo--

"Takeshi, wait." Kaemon said quietly.

Inuzuka Takeshi turned to look at the former Hokage.

"How much do you know about the Konoha jinchuuriki?"

Takeshi smiled sadly.

"My ancestor wrote a book called _The Hated Hero_." the Inuzuka said, "I've read it more times than I can count. It is a very important book to me. An old book, but an important one all the same."

"Interesting that Kiba, of the Eleven, would be the one to write a book about that boy." Kaemon said, "Do you have a copy of it that I could borrow?"

"It's still being reprinted even now, because in Wave Country and Spring Country at least they revere the boy as a national hero." Takeshi replied, "I'll see if I can get you a copy."

--ooo--

Kaemon studied the post-birth jinchuuriki seal, and thought about the consequences of its use.

If Minato did use it, they lost their Juuyondaime Hokage. If he didn't use it, they lost Konoha.

Was there a way to convince the shinigami to take a rain check on Minato's soul?

--ooo--

"Sensei," Obito gasped as he raced into the hospital, "it's almost here."

"Couldn't that overgrown throw rug wait until tomorrow?" Minato griped, "My wife's giving birth and I don't want to move her."

"Get your ass out there and deal with it." Kushina growled, "That seal you're going to use needs a newborn baby, and there's one on the way."

Minato realised what she meant, and disappeared to go find Kaemon, who had been furiously researching seals for the occasion.

"I found one that will work, but it's a little different to the other seals so the effects might be different." Kaemon said, holding out a piece of paper, "You summon the shinigami, but the shinigami has to wait until you die to get your soul."

"Are you sure this will work?" Minato asked.

"Positive." Kaemon replied, "All you have to do is make the hand seals and the Shinigami does the rest. But when you die he gets your soul. It won't kill you like other seals would, but it's an unbreakable contract all the same."

Minato vanished again, taking the paper with him and memorising it as he went.

Kaemon could only hope that it worked.

--ooo--

"I don't believe it." Gamabunta grumbled, "I never thought I'd do what Hiijiji did."

"Worry about that later." Minato replied, "I've got a fair few lives riding on this, so even if your great-grandfather did do this we have to do it again. Hurry up, frog."

"Toad." Gamabunta replied, grumbling good naturedly at the old banter.

Minato ran through the hand signs he'd been given, having received word via "monkey post" that he was now the father of a son and that his son was ready for the sealing.

As he finished the seals, he was sure he heard a crackly voice say something along the lines of "I'll wait to get you back, but I _will_ get you back, Yondaime" which made no sense to him at all.

--ooo--

**What's that feeling? Is it…Damn…Not again…Give me a break …I guess I'll have to watch everything from in here again…This sucks…**

--ooo--

Minato held his infant son in his arms and stared at the tiny whiskered blonde.

"He's beautiful." the fourteenth Hokage declared, "Just like his mother."

"He'll be a real maelstrom, I'm sure." Kushina said, "Our Naruto will draw people in."

Minato agreed, unaware of Kaemon watching the happy family through the Hokage's crystal.

"I guess things are truly changing with your meddling." Takeshi said, coming up behind Kaemon, "What do you intend to do now?"

"There are still a few things I need to change in the near future." Kaemon replied, "Including a little incident with Kumo."

* * *

Bet you didn't care who wrote _The Hated Hero_, but it's actually semi-important to the story. Spring Country, BTW, is actually Snow Country from the first movie, but after all the snow melted.

I know Kyuubi's really OOC, but the guy was stuck inside Naruto for however many years (still trying to calculate how old Naruto was when he died, if Tsunade had been Hokage for ten years at the time...twenty three or there abouts I think) so he was bound to have changed a bit. As for how he escaped death...that's coming up in a later chapter and is detailed in the one-shot A Spiral Scar.

It's still in the pre-Naruto stuff, but it's getting there. Soon we'll meet the other kids, and a new girl who exists of Kaemon's meddling.

Tune in next time for more of Don't let history repeat itself...If you want to.


	8. Chapter 7

Don't own Naruto, never will

In which we meet most of the main players (albeit younger) and a very special new addition to the cast. Guess who the new kid is.

* * *

(Excerpt from _Konoha's Ghosts_)

From Chapter 2: The Little Girl in Orange

Two years after the Kyuubi attack, a ghost girl appeared in an empty cot in the hospital. She was wrapped in an orange blanket with a spiral pattern on it, and had wisps of ash blonde hair atop her tiny head.

Like the other ghosts that came after her, she came and went. Her typical haunt was the Ninja Academy, where she appeared after school four years after her arrival in the hospital up until she would've been about twelve had she been alive. She grew, like the other ghosts, and was a "student" at the Academy from the ages of six to twelve, whereupon her main haunt became a training ground used by two genin of what would have been her graduating class and their sensei.

Other typical haunts were the Konoha main gates, where she would appear if Hatake Kakashi's team was on or returning from a mission, or Ichiraku Ramen.

Her main outfit from the time she was very young was an orange dress with a dark trim, and an orange jacket that looked to be a hand-me-down from an unknown person, possibly an older sibling had she truly been alive.

(End excerpt)

--ooo--

"Mikoto, where are you off to with those boys?" Kushina asked, wandering over to the woman as she walked through the marketplace, "I'm fairly sure you only have one boy that age, and he's the one with the Uchiha mark on his t-shirt."

Uchiha Mikoto was currently toting five boys through the marketplace, and only one of them was an Uchiha. As well as Sasuke, she also had a white-eyed three year old, a scruffy little two year old who was carrying a stuffed dog, a skinny two year old who was dawdling and a plump two year old who was sucking on a large lollipop and sticking close to the dawdling two year old.

"I promised Tsume, Hotaru, Yoshino and Choza that I'd watch their boys for a little while." Mikoto explained, "Choza's really had it tough lately since Megumi died. Poor man, having to look after Choji all by himself."

"He's doing fine, but it must be a lot of work for him. Being a ninja and a single parent." Kushina agreed, "Where are you taking the boys, then?"

"I was thinking of the park, but I'm not sure I can keep track of them all at once." Mikoto admitted, "Sasuke plus one is hard enough, but five boys might be a little too much for me at once."

"Well, Shikamaru will probably go to sleep once you get him to the park like he always does, Choji's got his lollipop to keep him happy and he's always close to Shikamaru, Neji isn't all that inclined to wander off, and that just leaves Sasuke and Kiba to worry about." Kushina said practically, "I'm headed that way anyway to meet Obito and Naruto. That's two extra pairs of eyes, mine and your nephew's."

"You'd help me?" Mikoto asked eagerly.

"What are friends for?" Kushina replied, "Naruto's probably worn Obito out, though. My little boy has more energy than most others his age."

"I have to agree, but you were probably the same at his age." Mikoto laughed, "I know your husband wasn't exactly the sit-and-stay type as a small child, either."

"He still isn't." Kushina laughed, "I know he keeps trying to sneak out of his office to avoid the paperwork, but they keep finding him."

"That's what happens when your student becomes ANBU." Mikoto pointed out cheerfully, "He knows his sensei as well as anyone does."

The two women led the gaggle of toddlers to the nearest park, chattering the whole while. It was hard to believe that Mikoto and Kushina hadn't gotten along until Naruto was born. The boy was good at drawing people in when they met him, and hardly anyone knew he was the Kyuubi keeper. That was known only to a select few, and Kaemon had suggested keeping it that way. All the rest of the populace knew was that Kyuubi had been dealt with, but not _how_ he'd been dealt with.

"So, how have you been?" Mikoto asked, "I hear that your new one's been hard on you."

"It's not that she's a crier or anything," Kushina admitted, "it's that she _doesn't_ cry. She's not mute, we know that much, but she hardly ever cries or even whimpers. Minato and I are starting to wonder what she'll be like when she's older. Naruto we always knew what was wrong from how he cried, but little Fuu is simply too quiet."

Namikaze "Fuu" Fubuki was Naruto's new sister, and only a few months old. She had ash blonde hair and blue eyes so pale they were almost white. Obito said she'd "been bleached", and it was quiet an apt description of the tiny girl.

"How's Naruto taking it?" Mikoto asked, "He wasn't too happy with you being pregnant, I remember."

"That was because I didn't have a lap anymore." Kushina laughed, "Oh, he loves her. Minato dotes on her, too."

"Well he would." someone said, coming over, "Name a father who doesn't dote on his daughter."

"Hiashi, for one." Mikoto replied, "Really, Jin Mei, you should know that."

"Then why did I see him buying a silk kimono just now?" Jin Mei asked, "It's too small for Haruka, and it's not like Neji will wear anything with butterflies on it."

"Ok, so he's a closet doter." Kushina cut in, "Jin Mei, where's Tenten? I can't see you leaving her with a babysitter."

"Depends on the babysitter." Jin Mei replied cheerfully, "Haruka's got Hinata, Ino and Tenten at the park."

"We're headed that way with the boys." Mikoto said, "Care to join us?"

"I have to go get Tenten anyway, so sure."

The women wandered towards the park, coaxing the boys along until they arrived, and found Obito being used as a trampoline by Yamanaka Ino, who was by far the most active of the little girls present. Hinata was happy to sit with Naruto in the sandbox and make little sand towns under Haruka's watchful eye, while Tenten was being pushed on the swing by someone Kushina never have expected to see there.

"Aburame-sama, why are you here?" Mikoto asked, "I thought you avoided the parks."

"Shino needs to be outside the compound every now and again." Shibi replied, "It was coincidence that I chose to bring him here."

Kushina doubted it. Shibi was known for being quite calculative when he wished to be, and no doubt wanted to strengthen ties with the other major families of Konoha.

Shibi's son, Shino, was currently lying on his belly watching ants parade past him on their way to and from a pile of crumbs that had been dropped by a careless eater. He was quite happy to be left to his own devices, and needed only minor supervision because of the kikai colony he possessed. Even at two years of age, he was already showing good control of his kikai and they were showing an unexpected fondness for their host.

"Namikaze-sama," Shibi said, "is your daughter not with you?"

"Kaemon decided he wanted to dote over her today, so he took her off my hands this morning." Kushina replied, "He really loves that girl, and Naruto."

Kaemon truly did dote on Fuu and Naruto, but had been initially surprised at Fuu's birth. He'd never expected another Namikaze child to be born, although he was genuinely happy for the couple when they announced that Kushina was pregnant again.

"Shibi-sama, my husband and I are holding a get-together in a couple of weeks." Kushina said, "Would you and your wife like to come? You can bring Shino with you, of course."

Shibi promised to think about it, and then gathered Shino up and left.

"He's quite something, that man." Mikoto said, "The Aburame are a very insular family, but he's really trying his hardest to become a part of Konoha society."

"Well, he raised a few eyebrows for naming his son Shino, you know." Haruka said, coming over.

"Why is that?" Kushina asked, "I never understood why there was such a fuss about that."

"We always forget you weren't trained here in Konoha." Mikoto said.

"I was a nomadic ninja, descended from the Uzumaki family of the former Whirlpool Country." Kushina replied dryly, "So get to the point."

"Aburame Shino was one of the Great Ninjas of the reign of the Rokudaime Hokage." Mikoto explained, "He was said to be an incredibly loyal ninja, one of the best trackers in Konoha at the time. His team-mates were Hyuuga Hinata and Inuzuka Kiba, and they were three of the Eleven Great Ninjas that served under Hatake Kakashi when he was Hokage. He wasn't a very outgoing person, but he was loyal beyond reason to his friends and the Hokage."

"Then why did it raise eyebrows?" Kushina asked, "It sounds like a very good name for the boy."

"The name Shino isn't a bad name, but the connotations are hard to miss." Haruka said, "The Shino of the Rokudaime Hokage's reign was said to attack fellow ninjas if they spoke ill of his friends. He is said to have killed three men for badmouthing a ninja whose name has been forgotten."

"So by naming his son for a man known to have attacked his fellow Konoha ninjas, they're worried that Shibi might have set the boy up to repeat the actions of the past." Jin Mei guessed.

"That's part of it," Mikoto admitted, "but it's also said that Shino was scouted to be a hunter-nin and refused. They say he broke the porcelain mask over his knee and said that he'd never join the hunter-nins because that would mean betraying his team and abandoning them."

"So he refused to be a hunter-nin. Why's that such a big deal?" Kushina asked, "It's happened a few times that I know of."

"I'm not sure why, myself, but apparently they scouted him at a bad time." Haruka said, "My husband's ancestor, Neji, wrote at the time about it being a bad time to scout anyone from that group. Apparently Inuzuka Kiba turned down an ANBU scout at the same time."

"That was during the mourning period, wasn't it?" Mikoto said.

"Mourning period?" Jin Mei asked, bemused.

"Hatake Kakashi's third student, the one whose name was forgotten, died about two months prior to Shino and Kiba being scouted." Haruka explained, "It's said that Rokudaime's forgotten student was the one who drew the others together."

"How awful." Kushina said, "I never realised that one of Rokudaime's students was forgotten. Can't they look it up in the records?"

"A few have tried since then, but it's as if the poor child was erased from the records by someone or something." Haruka explained sadly, "All we know is that the student was a male, but his name was erased from every public access report and document. It's as if someone wanted him forgotten."

* * *

So now we find out why Takeshi said that Kyuubi was sealed in "a newborn boy whose name has been lost to history" to the council. Anyone willing to guess why they erased Naruto from history?

Sorry if Shino's story seems OOC, but I figure that he's one of the most loyal of the group so he'd not take kindly to anyone badmouthing his dead friend, no matter how said friend died.

Ok, so that's all one long scene. Sorry about that, but it sets up for the next chapter.

See you then


	9. Chapter 8

Don't own Naruto, never will

BTW: this was originally two chapters (chapters 8 and 9), but due to the fact I have to reformat I crunched them into one chapter because they do well enough as one chapter. I was going to later, anyway.

* * *

(Excerpt from _My Hokages_)

From Part 2, Chapter 2: Nii-san and me

I was often teased as a young child for having a "brother complex". To me, Nii-san could do no wrong. That my first recognisable word was "nii-sa" probably didn't help that perception, either.

I will admit that I was overly attached to my brother as a small child, but the origins of this attachment are still debatable and I doubt that it can be called a "brother complex" by any definition of the term. It was more along the lines of idol worship, which I shared with Sarutobi Konohamaru and his two friends Moegi and Udon.

Obito-nii-san once said that Nii-san looked so much like my father would have as a boy that I probably learned very early on, even in infancy, to associate blonde hair with security and safety. The flaw in this theory is that I was apt to fuss when my father picked me up as an infant, and I was downright scared of the only other blonde man I knew, Yamanaka Inoichi.

(End excerpt)

--ooo--

"Is everything ready?" Minato asked, scurrying in through the front door.

"Yes, Minato." Kushina replied, "Everything's ready."

"So who's coming?" Minato asked, "I never did get the guest list from you."

"Mikoto and Fugaku are bringing their boys," Kushina replied, "Hiashi and Haruka are bringing Hinata, Hizashi and Hotaru are bringing Neji, Fai and Jin Mei are bringing Tenten, Tsume is bringing Kiba and Hana and I'm not sure about their dogs, Inoichi said he'll bring Ino but her mother's out of town visiting relatives, Yoshino promised to drag Shikaku and Shikamaru along, Choza and Choji will be here when the food is brought out…Oh! And Aburame Shibi might come with Shino and Natsuzemi."

"How'd you manage that one, my darling?" Minato asked, ducking into their bedroom to clean up.

"I met him in the park that day Obito was watching Naruto and Kaemon-sama had Fuu." Kushina replied, "I learned a bit about Shino's namesake, too."

"Ahh…The infamous Aburame Shino." Minato said, "It's a common story amongst ninjas, you know. I heard that Kitsune was created in tribute to the forgotten student of Rokudaime, too."

"You mean that groundcover with the yellow flowers that can be planted with anything and enhances the growth of other plants?" Kushina said, "Where'd you hear that?"

"You'd be surprised what Inoichi will say when he's half drunk." Minato replied, "It's a Yamanaka family secret, he said."

"Why call it Kitsune?"

"Apparently that was the ANBU designation of the boy in question. Very friendly, and helped everyone else before himself. Brought people together and helped them all but hurt none of them in any way, just like Kitsune."

"What were you doing around a half drunk Inoichi, anyway?" Kushina asked suspiciously.

"It was a few years ago, Kushina-chan." Minato assured her, "It was back before I was asked to take on a genin team."

Kushina smiled, and finished setting up for the get-together.

--ooo--

"I remember when Ino was this small." Inoichi said, peering at the pale infant, "She's very pale, though. Any ideas why?"

"Genetic mutation most likely, because neither of us have relatives that pale that we know of." Minato admitted.

"Pass her here." Inoichi said, "Let's see if she weighs as much as I remember Ino did at that age."

Minato passed Fuu over to Inoichi, with a startling response.

Fuu scrunched up her face and _shrieked_.

Kushina and the other women came hurtling into the room from another one where the older children were playing, almost as if by instinct.

"What did you do to her?" Kushina demanded.

"Nothing!" Inoichi insisted, "I'm just holding her and she started shrieking."

Kushina took Fuu from Inoichi, and the shrieking stopped at once.

"Smart kid for a five month old." Shikaku murmured to Choza.

"Hey, _I_ still have trouble with her." Minato said, "Kushina and Naruto are the only ones who can handle Fuu."

"Naruto?" Hizashi asked, "Isn't he a bit young to be looking after a baby?"

"Well, she responds to him." Minato replied, "Funny how things work out. He's better with her than I am."

"She'll have a brother complex when she's older, you wait and see." Fai laughed.

"Well, she could have worse role models than Juuyondaime's son." Obito said, coming out of the shadows, "She could have Gai as a role model."

"No kid of mine's ever wearing green spandex." Kushina declared, "Especially not Fuu."

"If she grows up anything like you, Kushina, that'd be like giving a free show." Hizashi said.

Hiashi struck his irreverent twin upside his head.

--ooo--

(Excerpt from _The Eleven_)

From Prologue

Sasuke. Sakura. Ino. Shikamaru. Choji. Kiba. Shino. Hinata. Neji. Tenten. Lee.

Say those names to any ninja in any hidden village and you will get a response of awe and/or fear. Their names, even now, are feared and revered for their deeds.

If you enter Konoha, you are bound to find someone who has been named for one of The Eleven. They are incredibly common names for ninja children, particularly in the old families. The old families; the Hyuuga, Uchiha, Yamanaka, Inuzuka, Nara, Akimichi and Aburame; are particularly attached to these names as most of them come from amongst their own ranks. With the exceptions of Lee, Tenten and Sakura, The Eleven are all from these old families.

(End excerpt)

--ooo--

After the food had been served and eaten, the adults gathered in the largest room in the house to sit and chat while the children were in the playroom with Minato's students.

"I'm curious about why you named your children the way you did." Kushina admitted at one point, "Being a relative newcomer to Konoha and all, I don't understand why you chose the names you all chose."

"Hinata was the head of the Hyuuga family but had no children of her own, so her cousin Neji's firstborn child was her heir." Hizashi said, "Her father was Hiashi and Neji's was Hizashi, so we decided to follow the paths of our namesakes and named our kids for their kids. God names, too. Two of The Eleven."

"The Eleven?"

"Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura, Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru, Akimichi Choji, Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame Shino, Hyuuga Hinata, Hyyuga Neji, Tenten and Rock Lee." Fugaku said, "The finest ninjas of the Rokudaime Hokage's reign. All but three of them were from the old ninja families."

"Ironically," Fai added, "I didn't find out I was naming my daughter for one of them until _after_ we announced her name. We just thought it was a nice name."

"Twice heaven." Jin Mei said.

"A respectable and upstanding name, when all the deeds of its forbearer are weighed." Hiashi said, "She is my ancestress."

"They're still just names to me." Kushina admitted.

"Sasuke was the sole survivor of the Uchiha Massacre and left Konoha for a while to hone his skills before returning and becoming a member of the Interrogation Unit," Hizashi said, "Sakura was a medic-nin and the student of both the Godaime and Rokudaime Hokages, Lee was the finest taijutsu user of his generation, Tenten was a weapon and fuinjustu master, Neji was a Hyuuga prodigy and a fine fighter, Hinata started out weak but became a strong leader for the Hyuuga Clan and a strong tracker and fighter, Kiba was a tracker without equal, Shino was considered the most loyal and dangerous of Rokudaime's closest ninjas, Shikamaru was the finest tactician to ever be born in Konoha, Ino was the most cunning kunoichi to appear for many years, and Choji was often considered a force to be reckoned with. They tended to work amongst themselves rather than with others from outside their group, although there is evidence of a boy from a group known as ROOT assisting them sometimes."

"ROOT?" Jin Mei echoed, "You mean like that group Danzo keeps pushing?"

"It's like a cockroach." Natsuzemi commented calmly, "Resilient and hard to be rid of. Even we Aburame know that cockroaches and others of their ilk spread disease and trouble."

"There is ways to kill even cockroaches, surely." Mikoto said.

"But they are almost infinite in number, so killing one has almost no effect." Natsuzemi replied, taking a sip of the tea placed before her by Minato.

"Why are you serving us tea, Hokage-sama?" Hiashi asked, "Surely you are above such menial tasks."

"He makes better tea than I do," Kushina replied calmly, "and he _likes_ to make it. Kami only knows why."

"Just because you burn water doesn't mean I cook because it's a chore." Minato replied cheerfully as he sat down beside his wife, "By the way, who's with the tots?"

"Rin, Obito and Kakashi are in there now, although I suspect Obito's all but dead on his feet." Kushina replied, "Why don't you go check on them?"

"Never a wiser word spoken, my darling." Minato replied, getting up again.

He strolled into the playroom, and watched the way things were panning out with the children.

It was clear that Naruto adored his sister, as did Hinata, Kiba, Tenten, Ino and Choji, while Shikamaru and Neji were indifferent and Sasuke thought she was annoying. Shino had clearly joined Naruto's adoration camp, and was currently making a mobile of brightly coloured paper butterflies for Fuu.

Minato watched little Fuu giggle and reach for a paper butterfly that Shino dangled above her, and then reach for Naruto the moment he came into view.

Minato could see why Kaemon had suggested that no one be allowed to speak of what became of Kyuubi that night. If the kids found out that Kyuubi was sealed inside Naruto, who knew what would happen to their friendships.

"Are you alright, Sensei?" Obito asked, coming up behind Minato with a half full coffee mug in one hand and a storybook in the other.

"I'm fine." Minato replied, "Just watching the kids. What do you think will happen if they or their parents find out about Naruto's tenant?"

"It's better not to think about that, Sensei." Kakashi replied, appearing from the shadow of the doorway, "Let his actions speak for him, not our words and worries."

"Wise words, Jiji." Obito teased.

Used to the joke, Kakashi ignored his team mate/rival/friend in favour of watching the toddlers and Rin.

Rin looked up from where she was playing with Tenten and Ino, and smiled at her boys.

"Obito, you found it." she said, "Come on, then. Come read to them."

Most of the two year olds and the three year old girl scurried over to the cushion where Obito sat down, and he opened the story book to begin reading his favourite fairytale to the children.

Minato left, glad that the children were in good hands and that his worries about Naruto were allayed, temporarily at least.

* * *

Y'know, it's pretty easy to tell now (and in the next chapters) who the writer of _My Hokages_ is.

I'm kinda worried I'll be going really out of character with a few of these people in a few chapters, once I get past the attempted kidnapping of Hinata and the Uchiha Massacre, but that's kinda to be expected with the changes I'm making. Hope they don't seem too bad.

BTW: if anyone can think of a better blurb for my story I'd be glad to hear it. Mine's not very good.

Jiji means old man, and in this case refers to Kakahsi's white hair. I can see Obito calling Kakashi that, to be honest.

Nastuzemi (Shino's mother's name in this story) means summer cicada. I figure since Aburame Shino is pretty close to the Japanese word for cockroach then his mother might as well have an insect-y name too.


	10. Chapter 9

Do I have to say it again? I don't own Naruto and never will (bummer)

This one's fairly long, but it covers a section of the manga/anime that is referred to in flashback. I guess it's the third main point of divergence between past (canon) and present in this story, the first being Obito's death/not-death and the second being at Kyuubi's attack, although I guess Fuu's birth is a point of divergence too.

Oh...About the excerpt: I was running over a baby names website (I look there for names that fit my story, as well as a translator for names like Fubuki and Natsuzemi) and I found out that Hinata, written with the right kanji, can mean sunflower as well as towards the sun/in the sun. I thought it fitted her quite well.

* * *

(Excerpt from _Brother/Sister/Cousin/Friend: Analysis of the Konoha Twelve_)

From Section 3, Chapter 2: The Sunflower

It was clear to many from early on that Hyuuga Hinata was enamoured with the sunny blonde son of the Juuyondaime Hokage. She all but worshiped the ground he walked on, and was probably the first and most secretive of the legion of female fans the aptly named boy collected over the years.

However, her relationship with the Juuyondaime's daughter, two years her junior, is surprisingly different. The two girls are well known for acting like sisters, complete with the occasional falling out. Hinata's younger sister Hanabi, three years younger than Juuyondaime's daughter, frequently joins the duo and they are known to be a very tight-knit trio.

This closeness apparently stems back to when Hinata was three and the Hokage's daughter was one, although most of the details surrounding the origins of the bond are classified and/or unknown by the general populace.

(End excerpt)

--ooo--

"Can I talk you into holding off on your ceremony until after this political circus is over? I know it's important to your family, but I need you and your brother helping me out with this diplomatic mess."

"I'm sure we can hold off for a few days at least. I was trying to find a way out of the sealing, anyway."

"You know, I _can_ make it illegal to put a seal on anyone under the age of whatever."

"Even that wouldn't stop the elders. They'd protest and call it a ritual that goes back to before Konoha was formed."

"We're talking about children being branded like cattle. That seal originated as a prison guard's tool to keep inmates in line in Water Country, you know."

"I am trying my hardest to stop it happening, but unless we can find a way to remove it from the older ones it will do no good."

"How's your brother going on that, anyway?"

"He's found something, but it's only a slight lead. That cursed seal was our best lead so far, and then the papers of his namesake. Looks like we're not the first generation to try and remove the seal."

"Well, you've got a few more days at least. It must suck being the head of that family sometimes. It's all politics, traditions and old men with sticks up their asses."

"Says the man who is the head of Konoha."

"Touché."

--ooo--

"He's been so worked up ever since that Kumo delegation arrived." Kushina admitted to Haruka, "He and Kaemon-sama are up to their ears in formalities and paperwork, and they don't trust those diplomats as far as they could throw them. They even asked the old families to put off any celebrations, ceremonies and the like until this whole thing is over so that there can be maximum security around Konoha."

"Sounds like you and he need some adult time." Haruka commented.

"We've got a hyperactive three year old and a one year old who figured out how to get out of her cot last week." Kushina replied, "There won't be any adult time for us for a while."

"I'll take them tonight, if you want." Haruka offered, "It's not like I haven't babysat before, you know."

"Are you sure? They're not easy kids to look after."

Haruka smiled at the redhead and told her she'd come collect the kids after dinner.

--ooo--

"Ugh." Minato groaned, "No more. I'm begging you."

Kaemon shrugged and replied, "You're the Hokage. You have to do this."

"Kushina promised me something special for dinner, so I need to get home soon." the blonde Hokage complained, "Can't we finish this in the morning?"

"At least sign this one." Kaemon replied, shoving a paper under Minato's nose.

"An ANBU surveillance form?" Minato asked after skim reading the document, "What for?"

"The Kumo ninjas." Kaemon replied, "Didn't you ever listen in history lessons?"

"Eh?"

"They've tried to take the Byakugan before under the guise of treaties, so we need to be careful." Kaemon explained calmly, "It would be prudent to keep a watchful eye on them at all times."

Minato understood, and swiftly signed the form before summoning an ANBU to take the signed document to the ANBU headquarters.

--ooo--

Dinner at the Namikaze house was almost always a rambunctious affair. Naruto was not a tidy eater, preferring to throw his food around than eat it, and Minato wasn't averse to returning globs of rice and vegetables…with interest.

Watching the two boys in her life attack each other with bubble and squeak, Kushina sighed as she fed her daughter some pureed rice and said, "I hope you don't take after those two, Fubuki."

Fuu continued to eat her rice, seemingly ignoring her brother and father, but once her mother's back was turned she managed to dump some of her dinner down the back of her father's shirt. He was closer to her highchair than Naruto was.

"Gah!" the Hokage yelped. He fingered the slimy mess that was sliding down under his collar and then glared at his daughter, only to be attacked by his son's mashed-potato-and-peas bomb. "Kushina!" he bawled, "They're ganging up on me!"

"Serves you right for encouraging them." Kushina replied as she turned back and saw the mess that was her husband, "I think, however, that we need to clean these two up. Haruka's coming to pick them up in half an hour."

Naruto stood up and peered at Fuu in her highchair.

"Nii-sa." she said, reaching out to him, "Nii-sa."

"Did she just say what I think she said?" Kushina asked.

"Nii-sa." Fuu repeated, tugging on the fingers Naruto held out to her.

"Dear kami, Fai was right." Minato declared, "She idolises her nii-san."

"Well, we'll discuss this later." Kushina replied, scooping her daughter up, "You deal with Naruto while I get our daughter tidied up."

"Why is Haruka babysitting them tonight, anyway?" Minato asked, scooping his rice and vegetable covered son up.

"That's a surprise." Kushina replied cheekily.

--ooo--

"Hinata, it's almost time for bed." Haruka said, peering into the playroom where her daughter was entertaining Juuyondaime's daughter.

Hinata nodded, but continued to play with the younger girl.

Haruka smiled, and retreated to prepare everything for when the two went to bed.

"Haruka-sama, have you seen Naruto and Neji?" Hotaru asked as the leader's wife passed her by, "I swore I left them in the other playroom, but they're not there now."

"Try the pond." Haruka suggested, "Naruto loves sitting by the pond and talking to his reflection. He really does hold conversations with himself, you know. Neji will be with him, I'm sure."

What they didn't realise was that Naruto wasn't talking to his reflection. He was talking to what he called "the other me": Kyuubi. No one ever took the time to look at Naruto's reflection and see that the whisker-like birthmarks on his face were more pronounced in his reflection at times like this, or that the reflection's eyes were like rubies rather than sapphires.

Hotaru went in search of her son and Juuyondaime's elder child, and missed by seconds the man who was slipping across the courtyard.

--ooo--

Hinata stood up, leaving Fuu playing with an old doll, and wandered over to a set of shelves to start putting toys away.

After putting all the other toys away, Hinata went to take the doll from Fuu since she was going to bed soon too.

As she reached out to take the doll from the pale child, someone grabbed her from behind.

Fuu proved what kind of lungs she possessed by shrieking at the top of her lungs at the sudden disappearance of Hinata from her sight. Something was wrong, her immature mind decided, because this girl never moved that fast.

In order to shut the tiny girl up, the would-be kidnapper used a jutsu that knocked her out. The jutsu wasn't meant to be used on anyone under the age of about five, but he was desperate.

"Did you hear that?" the kidnapper heard.

"Sounds like a little kid." someone else said, "It's coming from the playroom."

"Hinata-sama and Fubuki-sama are in there!"

"Let's go check it out."

The kidnapper took Hinata and fled, disappearing just as two Hyuuga branch house members entered the room and found Fuu unconscious.

--ooo--

(Excerpt from the journal of Hyuuga Hiashi in the third year of Sandaime Hokage's second leadership)

Hinata is shaken, but otherwise unharmed by the ordeal. She has taken to clinging to her branch house guards even more now, although few may blame her for being apprehensive about moving about alone.

Hizashi has moved on and left me behind. He gave his life in return for my own.

He has chosen his own fate and faced it with the courage of a true ninja. I only wish that I had the courage to face his son. Neji is quite clearly bitter at the loss of his father, and I fear that his bitterness shall fester and become hatred in the not too distant future. The mark upon his forehead does not aid my case, either.

I understand that Sandaime has done all he can to avoid this outcome, but I am all too aware of the machinations of the council. Danzo, particularly, cannot be trusted.

(End excerpt)

--ooo--

"How is Hinata?" Minato asked.

"Shaken, but otherwise unharmed." Hiashi replied, "I admit I am using this plot to my advantage, but I have declared that Neji won't be marked until Hinata has come of age because of this. If anything were to happen to her, he is the next in line for the leadership."

"Clever." Minato agreed, "However, you _did_ kill the Kumo diplomat."

"Your ANBU saw me strike him only after he struck me." Hiashi replied, "They can't claim recompense for…"

"Hokage-sama," an ANBU cut in, appearing suddenly, "the Raikage has come to talk to you."

"Send him in." Minato said.

Hiashi went to leave.

"Stay." the Hokage said, "This concerns you too."

The Raikage breezed into the office, flanked by two of his own ANBU.

"Hokage-sama." he said, "You know why I am here."

"The death of your diplomat." Minato confirmed.

"I want the murderer's corpse." the Raikage said calmly, "A life for a life, as you might say."

"I'm afraid there's another matter at hand." Minato said, locking his fingers together, "Are you aware of what was happening at the time he was killed?"

The Raikage faked obliviousness, although he did know what was meant to have happened.

"Your diplomat broke into the Hyuuga compound, kidnapped the Hyuuga heir and attacked another young child." Minato said, "Forgive me if I am less than gracious right now, but that other child was my one year old daughter. He knocked her out with a jutsu that has a specific warning that it is not to be used on anyone under the age of five. My daughter is currently in the hospital, still unconscious, because of what your diplomat did. Hiashi did not attack the man until the diplomat attacked him after being tracked down. Hiashi would not have attacked the man without due provocation because his daughter's life would be at risk with any attack he made. A death caused by self defence or in defence of others does not constitute murder." He took a few deep breaths. "Do not demand the murderer's corpse, because there was no murder. You should be begging forgiveness for what your so-called diplomat did to my daughter and to Hinata. If you are not here to apologise for his actions and your own in sending him here, then do not speak to me at all."

The Raikage, unused to the usually genial Juuyondaime being so close to furious, quickly acknowledged what the man was saying and fled as swiftly as politeness allowed.

Minato returned to his usual calm and friendly state once the man was gone, turned to Hiashi and said, "And that, Hyuuga-sama, is how you deal with men like him at times like this."

--ooo--

Fuu awoke a week after the attack and recovered swiftly. The only remaining damage from the attack was that she was easily upset by sudden movements for a few weeks, but that soon passed.

Hinata and Fuu became remarkably close after the kidnapping attempt, and Obito and Hizashi were running a betting pool about how long it would be before they heard Fuu call Hinata "Nee-san" or something to that effect.

It took a few months, and Kakashi came out somewhat the richer to the surprise of many.

--ooo--

When Haruka announced, when Hinata was four, that she was pregnant again most were delighted.

Fuu wasn't so keen on the idea, although most assumed it was because of all the fuss they were making about the new baby.

When Hanabi was born not long after Hinata turned five and Fuu turned three, the real reason for her unhappiness became clear.

"Fuu-chan, you ok?" Naruto asked his little sister not long after Hanabi's birth, "Hinata-chan says you haven't been 'round lately."

"She don't need me there anymore." Fuu replied, "She's got a _real_ sister now."

Rin, who just _happened_ to be nearby, heard the admission and realised what Fuu was so upset about. She wasn't really that upset about the attention Hanabi was receiving from the adults: it was the fact that Hinata had a real sister now, and wouldn't need Fuu to stand in for one.

"If Hinata didn't need you," Naruto pointed out, "d'ya think she'd ask me what's up with you?"

That solved that problem in Naruto's eyes, and for Fuu, but Rin went and told the adults why Fuu had been so upset.

"I'd never have thought it was _that_." Mikoto said, "I guess these last two years Fuu has been like a little sister to the other kids. Poor thing. She must've felt she was being replaced in Hinata's world by her new sister."

"Well, there's a very easy solution to that problem." Tsume said, "We can do what I did with Hana after Kiba was born."

"What's that?" Hotaru asked.

"Get her involved. Make her realise that she's not being replaced by the new baby." Tsume explained, "If you're going to let Hinata help, let Fuu help too. Give them little tasks to do. Fuu's old enough for a bit of fetch and carry work. Ask her to grab a blanket or a toy for Hanabi. Let her hold Hanabi if you're there to watch her. We're all showering Hanabi with attention, and Fuu's probably going to feel left out once she starts playing with Hinata again. Just wait and see."

* * *

So how'd I do? Is it ok?

My favourite bit is the Namikaze dinner scene. That's kinda how I see them interacting. Naruto might be like his mum, but his dad ain't exactly the most mature person at times.

Later

Reviews liked, but not required


	11. Chapter 10

Don't own Naruto, never will

This is my longest chapter yet, and comprises the first of two parts detailing an important "split point" from the canon era. Reading the excerpt will tell you (probably) what event I'm talking about

* * *

(Excerpt from _Pride and Pariahs: Kekkei Genkai across the ages_)

From Part 2, Chapter 3: Eyes of blood

For many years the defining characteristic of an Uchiha has been the Sharingan, the infamous red eyes that is not apparent at birth, but only becomes active after a life-or-death situation.

While the origins of this kekkei genkai are unknown; many believe it is derived from the Byakugan or a similar kekkei genkai that has been lost; the development of it has been well documented to a point. At activation, there is only one black tomoe in each red eye and more develop as the user grows and improves. However, the knowledge of the final stage of the Sharingan has been for years kept secret, and is surprisingly discouraged within the family.

The Mangekyo Sharingan, best known for its appearance after the Uchiha Massacre during the second leadership of Sandaime Hokage, has remained a mystery to all since that time. The three known attacks granted by the Mangekyo Sharingan are Amaterasu, Tsukuyomi and Susanoo, although there are documented cases of other abilities such as the ones used by Hatake Kakashi with his transplanted Sharingan.

Uchiha Sasuke, patriarch of the Uchiha clan after the massacre, was adamant that the Mangekyo Sharingan was not a good ability, despite the benefits it seemed to impart. He sited his elder brother's rapidly failing sight and suspected insanity as directly linked to the Mangekyo Sharingan, the former by it use and the latter by its gain.

(End excerpt)

--ooo--

Fuu watched jealously as Naruto bounded into the Ninja Academy for his first day there.

"Give it a couple of years and you'll be there too, Fuu." Kushina assured her four year old daughter.

Eying Hinata also entering the Academy, Fuu began to sulk. That in itself was a rare thing, and usually got results. This time, however, she knew that she would be going nowhere anytime soon.

"Fuu-chan!" someone called from behind the Namikaze mother and daughter, "Kushina-sama!"

The two turned around and spotted Kiba racing towards them with his mother and older sister close behind.

"Hey, where's your gear?" Kiba asked, looking Fuu over, "Aren't you coming with us?"

"I'm too little." Fuu complained, "Hahaue and Chichiue say I've gotta wait 'til I'm six 'fore I can come here."

"Bad luck." Kiba said, "Hey, how about you come back after the Academy finishes for the day and we'll go somewhere? Maybe we can get 'Bito and Nee-san to take us to the park." Obito wasn't too fussed by the way the children dropped the first syllable of his name, although the adults tried fruitlessly to convince the children, bar Naruto and Fuu who did so anyway, to at least refer to him as 'Bito-nii-san rather than just 'Bito.

"Really?" Fuu asked, perking up instantly.

"I can't see why not." Kushina said, "Tsume, is that ok with you?"

"Anything to keep this one out of my hair a little longer." Tsume replied, ruffling her son's hair.

"Did I hear the word park?" Hotaru asked as she appeared out of nowhere, "Who's going to the park?"

"Kiba suggested that he and Fuu go to the park after school." Kushina explained, "I guess Naruto's going too. Can't send Fuu and not send Naruto, after all. They'd both whine about being apart."

It was true: apart from Fuu's trips to play with Hinata and little Hanabi, she was never far from her older brother's side. Naruto entering the Ninja Academy was their first time apart for any extended period of time.

"I'm sure Neji and Hinata can be spared for an hour or so after school, too." Hotaru said, "Sound ok to you, Kiba?"

"It's cool." Kiba replied.

"Why not invite the whole group? It can be a big 'starting at the Ninja Academy' thing." Obito said, walking over with Sasuke and an older boy.

Fuu ducked behind Kushina, quivering.

"Hello Sasuke-kun." Kushina said, "Hello Itachi-kun. How have you been?"

"As well as can be hoped." Itachi replied.

Kiba stared at Fuu, bewildered by her reaction to Sasuke's older brother. He and the other kids thought Itachi was really cool, being a young ninja and all, but Fuu was terrified of the boy. No one knew why, but she refused to be anywhere near Itachi unless there was an adult or older kid she could hide behind.

"That's the smartest thing you've ever said, kid." Tsume teased, "How 'bout you go tell the others your idea and we'll get everything ready, huh?"

Obito slipped away, sending Sasuke inside with Itachi to meet his new teachers.

"I hear that the Umino boy is a teacher's aide this year." Hotaru commented, "Do you think he can handle our lot?"

"I'm sure he'll try his best, but not even their fathers can control this lot if they don't want to be controlled." Kushina laughed.

--ooo--

Classes ended early that day, and the students raced outside to meet their parents and siblings to go home or wherever they were going.

Iruka dropped down into a chair, exhausted after his first day of dealing with the trainee ninjas.

"So how're you feeling?" the teacher asked, "Want to come back tomorrow?"

"Can you supply a few energy drinks for me?" the scarred teenager asked, "Or, better yet, a coffee drip?"

"I think we all felt like that at first." the teacher laughed, "You'll recover. They say teaching's a job for chunin who can't do _real_ missions, but I think we're in a more dangerous position than any jonin in the field."

"Why?" Iruka asked.

"We deal with pre-genin ninjas who're learning to throw weapons. They can't always hit what they aim at, and we're bigger targets than the ones outside. I have more scars from this place than most jonin get on missions."

"I guess so." Iruka said, thinking about the class he'd just helped. He realised something. "Wasn't that the Hokage's son in the back row between the boy who fell asleep and the Hyuuga girl?"

"Yep." the teacher replied, "Namikaze Naruto. Elder child of Juuyondaime, brother of Fubuki, one of The Ten."

"The ten what?"

"We teachers call them The Ten. Hyuuga Hinata, Hyuuga Neji, Yamanaka Ino, Aburame Shino, Namikaze Naruto, Inuzuka Kiba, Baimiao Tenten, Nara Shikamaru, Uchiha Sasuke and Akimichi Choji. They're all from important families and they're bound to be good ninjas. Keep an eye on them. Tenten and Neji might be in the year above the other eight, but you'll find them all together in the playground and such. Oh, and watch out if Fuu gets hurt. The Ten will go on the warpath if she starts crying. Doesn't happen much, but if she gets hurt then all hell breaks loose."

"I'm more worried about that pink haired girl who was in the second row." Iruka admitted, "She's obviously read up on what we'll be teaching and tried to practice, but she doesn't have a practical backing for this stuff. Her parents are merchants, not ninjas."

"Her parents knew what they were getting into when they named her, you know. It's synonymous with smart kunoichi."

"Rokudaime and Godaime's student Sakura." Iruka said, "Now _there's_ a kunoichi I'm glad I never met."

"Looked nice, but had a temper as fiery as an Uchiha's favourite jutsu." the teacher agreed.

"Osamu-sensei?" a small voice asked, "'Ruka-san?"

The teacher and his aide looked up and saw Naruto standing in the doorway nervously.

"Yes, Naruto-kun?" Iruka asked, hopping off his chair and kneeling in front of the boy.

"Hahaue wants to talk to you 'fore you go anywhere." Naruto said.

Kushina appeared behind Naruto and sent him to where Obito, Hana and Kakashi were waiting to take him and the other children to the park.

"Namikaze-sama, it's good to see you." Osamu greeted, "Is there anything in particular you'd like to talk about?"

"There is, actually." Kushina admitted, "I wanted to know how Naruto coped today. Was he fidgeting at all?"

"He was, but that's to be expected on the first day of school." Osamu assured her, "Is there a reason you're worried?"

"It's his first time apart from Fuu, actually. Ever since she was born he's never been far away from her." Kushina explained, "I was worried he'd be fretting about her or something. She certainly missed him."

"Well, he was relatively attentive in class." Osamu said, "I will admit, though, that his understanding of what a ninja does is far advanced for his age. Have you or your husband spoken to him about what a ninja does?"

"No, but I know who probably has." Kushina said, "Obito and Kakashi are Naruto and Fuu's preferred story tellers. They don't sugar-coat their words for the two, although for different reasons. Kakashi is simply blunt by nature, and Obito doesn't want them becoming ninja unless they at least understand what they're getting into."

"Well, I think his classmates are far more aware of what ninjas do now than they were before." Osamu admitted, "Several were distinctly upset by his description, but they all need to know what they're getting into."

--ooo--

Itachi watched silently from a tree as his brother and his friends were playing in the park.

"Why the close eye, Itachi?" someone asked from behind him, "Do you wish you were down there with them?"

Itachi ignored the silver-haired teenager, intent on studying the children below.

"You know…" Kakashi mused, "If you keep this up they'll worry you're obsessed with the kids, or one of them at least. Is it your brother, or is it someone else?"

"The scene seems almost familiar." Itachi said quietly, "As if I've seen it before. It's different, though. As if something has been added to a painting I saw as a small child, but everyone assumes it's always been there because they never truly saw the painting without it."

"You're not the only one feeling that way." Kakashi admitted, "When Obito almost died, I felt like I'd seen everything happen before and then suddenly something changed, like I was watching a play I'd seen before when suddenly someone changed the script."

Kakashi disappeared again, and Itachi retreated from the scene to peruse the old Uchiha libraries. Perhaps something there would make him understand what was going on.

--ooo--

(Excerpt from the journal of Uchiha Itachi, pre-massacre, date unspecified)

Sasuke started at the Ninja Academy today. He didn't come straight home as ordered, and I was sent to find him.

He was in the park with a group of other children, including the Uzumaki boy I'd heard was in his class. They appeared to be having fun, although the fun was swiftly broken up by the arrival of Haruka-sama, who took Hinata-chan and Neji-kun away.

Out the corner of my eye as I went to go collect Sasuke, I could've sworn I saw a flash of orange. Uzumaki-kun, however, was clearly tussling in front of me with the Inuzuka boy, whose sister had no qualms about letting the two boys play together. She is amongst the few who will let them play together, although she and I both have vague memories of when Kyuubi attacked Konoha. Her mother is the same, even offering at one point to take the boy in only to be rejected by the Council on the grounds of her having two young children of her own to care for and no husband. As if that was ever a problem before.

No one else in Konoha wears that same bright orange as Uzumaki Naruto, although I have heard of a 'ghost' who dresses in orange. Was it her that I saw out the corner of my eye, waiting for someone?

It is of no consequence. She has not harmed anyone, so is not a threat I must deal with.

(End excerpt)

--ooo--

Itachi scoured the libraries, seeking more information on the boy who was mentioned in passing in his namesake's journal.

Who was this Uzumaki Naruto? Why was it important that an Inuzuka had offered to take him in and been refused? It was common, even then, for the Inuzuka to take in orphans and foundlings to 'expand their gene pool' as some said.

Finally he found a single reference to an Uzumaki Naruto in the Interrogation Unit suspicious death reports. All it said was that "Uzumaki Naruto, 23, was found on October 10th by Umino Iruka, chunin/Ninja Academy sensei. Location: Uzumaki Naruto's apartment. Cause of death: kunai stabbed directly through his heart, no sign of coercion or interference, believed to be suicide". It also said that there was a suicide note stating that "I've always loved Konoha, even if Konoha does not love me". Apart from that, there was nothing.

Itachi began to dig deeper, and found another reference to Uzumaki Naruto in an ANBU record as "recruited, age 17" and apparently given a fox mask. There was only one fox mask at the time that this would've been written. Kitsune was the mask and title that many pranksters aspired to become, the legendary master of mischief, the most unpredictable ANBU. In the history of Konoha, there had only been five Kitsune in ANBU, and all of those had come after Kyuubi attacked Konoha. This Uzumaki Naruto must've been the first Kitsune.

Why was this boy not mentioned anywhere else, Itachi wondered. Did he do something that warranted his removal from the records and history books? Was he the victim of a spiteful attack from someone who knew him and attempted to destroy his memory after death?

So many questions and so few answers.

--ooo--

"Aniki has been acting weird lately." Sasuke complained to Naruto, "He's been locking himself away a lot, and he won't talk to me."

"What's he doing?" Naruto asked.

"He's reading all these old books and writing notes and stuff." Sasuke explained, "It's scaring everyone, even Shisui-nii-san."

Itachi's best friend Uchiha Shisui was a staunch ally for the eleven year old ninja, and it would take a lot to scare him.

"What do his notes say?" Naruto asked.

"He won't let me look at them." Sasuke grumbled, "Whenever I try, he takes them away and glares at me."

Naruto shrugged, and spotted Hizashi nearby.

"Hizashi-san!" he called out.

Hizashi changed course and went over to where the two almost-seven year olds were sitting.

"How's Neji? Did he hurt anything?" Naruto asked, "Tenten said the boy had a mean left hook."

"Neji will heal." Hizashi assured the blonde, "Apart from a few bruises and a scraped knee and palm, he's physically fine. The wounds to his pride, however, will take some time to heal."

"How 'bout the other guy?" Naruto asked.

"It would be safe to say that Inuzuka Takumi will be more wary about angering my son again." Hizashi replied.

"Serves him right for picking a fight with Neji." Sasuke said disdainfully.

"If you keep talking like that and you'll start sounding like Kazuo-san." Hizashi teased.

Sasuke was appalled. There was no way he wanted to start sounding like Kazuo-oji-san _(Uncle Kazuo)_! He was all stuck up and stuffy!

"Why'd he pick a fight, anyway?" Naruto cut in before Sasuke had a chance to say anything.

"I hear it started as a spar under teacher supervision and then the boy chose to speak ill of someone very close to Neji." Hizashi replied, "I was also told that Tenten had to be restrained. She was apparently ready to attack Takumi-kun from behind."

"What did the boy say?" Sasuke asked curiously.

"I believe he called Fuu a runt puppy and said it would be better to put her out of her misery before she got hurt." Hizashi replied.

"_Where is he?_" Naruto demanded, "No one calls my little sister anything like that and gets away with it!"

"He has been dealt with, Naruto." the man assured the boy, "There's no need for you to get involved."

--ooo--

While Hizashi and Sasuke tried to calm Naruto down, Kyuubi was processing the information Sasuke had given Naruto about Itachi.

Itachi must've found something that interested him, something that he didn't want anyone else to know. Like last time, there was reason to suspect that Itachi wasn't mentally stable, and the slightest thing would push him over the edge and spark the Uchiha Massacre all over again.

Kyuubi sighed. He _hated_ being stuck in here again, but not for the same reasons. He'd always intended to come find Naruto again, but he wanted to wait until he was older before reintroducing himself to the boy who wouldn't remember him. Now he was stuck back in his old cage, although it didn't look so much like a sewer now. Thank Kami for small mercies.

The reason he hated where he was wasn't that he hated being stuck inside Naruto: it was because he couldn't do anything to change how things were going. If things kept going the way they were, there would be serious problems. True, Hizashi was alive and Naruto had parents and a sister, but the next big issue they'd have to face was Itachi's killing of his kin and defection.

That scared Kyuubi more than anything else, because it would destroy the relatively nice boy that Sasuke was this time around.

**Hey, kid,** he thought, **I'll be more careful this time around. History won't repeat itself if I can help it.**

--ooo--

"Why did you call me out here?" Itachi asked coldly, "I have things to do."

"I understand you've been searching for answers." the shadowed person said, "I can give you answers."

Itachi was immediately on edge.

"I know why things seem strangely familiar and yet different." the person said, "I know who Uzumaki Naruto was. I can tell you things no one else can tell you. I can show you things that no one else can show you."

Itachi was interested, and asked the person who he/she was.

"My true name is of no use to you." the person said, "However…"

The man came out of the shadows, revealing strange eyes that Itachi had only ever heard about but never seen.

"You can know me as Pein." the man said.

* * *

Some people are bound to feel a sense of déjà vu, after all. It's just our/their bad luck that Itachi's the only one searching for answers. Kakashi might not be as lazy in this story, but he's still unlikely to take time out and expend extra energy over "unimportant" things. His loss.

My attempt at a cliffhanger will hold for a little while, until I next update.

As always: reviews and constructive criticism are liked, but I won't demand it.

I wonder if anyone actually reads the author notes...


	12. Chapter 11

Don't own Naruto, never will (although I can now add a Gaara purse to my collection of Naruto-themed items)

A weird chapter that follows almost directly on from the chapter before. There'll be a sort of timeskip after this one, so hopefully this works out ok.

Sorry about the shifting perspective near the end...It was the only way I knew of to show the simultaneous conversations.

* * *

(Excerpt from _Brother/Sister/Cousin/Friend: Analysis of the Konoha Twelve_)

From Section 2, Chapter 1: A Cage Made of Sunshine

Juuyondaime and his wife became aware of their son's ability to communicate with Kyuubi after Uchiha Obito left on a long mission not long after Naruto turned seven.

While the exact reasons for this discovery are unclear, the fact that their daughter already knew about Kyuubi at this time makes it clear that nothing that one child knew could be kept from the other.

(End excerpt)

--ooo--

"Oi, Naruto." Obito said, "I'll be back before you become a genin. I promise."

Naruto's eyes were still big and watery.

Fuu was glaring at her father.

"I'd send someone else if I could." he protested, "Obito just happens to be the only one I can send right now."

"But it'll be four years before we see 'Bito-nii-san again." Fuu whined.

"Hey, a lot of ninjas have to go protect the Daimyo." Minato said, "One day, maybe even you'll get to do that job too. He can't rely on just the Twelve Ninja Guards of Fire all the time, you know."

"Speaking of the Guards," Kaemon said, "would you mind telling my son he's an uncle? I don't think he knows that his younger brother has a son."

"You want me to tell him to get back here, too?" Obito asked cheekily. For a twenty year old, he sure acted like a kid sometimes.

"Tell him to come meet his nephew." Kaemon replied, used to the never-growing-up Uchiha's antics and mannerisms.

"Try not to be late back?" Minato told his student, "These two," he gestured at the two little blondes, "will never let me hear the end of it if you're late or don't come back."

"Gotcha, Sensei." Obito said, getting up off the ground and hoisting his pack over one shoulder, "Four years from today, I'll be back here at the gates. I'll send letters and gifts for you guys, too."

"Promise?" Naruto asked, sniffing.

"Have I ever broken a promise to you?" Obito asked, "I'll send you one in a few months time. You'll see."

--ooo--

Naruto dropped down in front of his mirror and looked at his reflection for a moment until it began to change into the other self he recognised so well.

"Hello, Other Me." he said.

**Hey, kid,** the other Naruto replied, **you miss him already.** No question: just a fact.

Naruto nodded.

**Hey, he's never broken a promise he's made to you or anyone else,** the other Naruto pointed out. **Like that Might Gai.**

As scary or bizarre as Gai might seem, he never broke a promise. If you asked him to help you with something, he would. Fuu, particularly, was fond of the Green Beast for some reason that Kakashi could never fathom. There was a rumour going around that Kakashi was jealous of the green-clad ninja, since Fuu told Gai things she'd never dream of telling Kakashi or anyone else. He probably knew things about her _Naruto_ didn't.

"Hey, Naruto, you ok?" Minato asked, coming to check on his son, "Dinner's ready. You want any tonight?" He saw that Naruto was sitting in front of his mirror and added, "Ah. You're talking to yourself again." He came up behind the boy and said, "You know, if you want to talk about stuff I'm here, and there's Kakashi, Rin, your mother and the other adults if you don't want to tell me something. You don't need to talk to your reflection all the…" He saw the differences between his son and his son's reflection.

There was no way that reflection could be anything but a manifestation of Kyuubi.

--ooo--

"How am I supposed to tell our son what I did to him?" Minato asked Kushina, "I mean, he talks to Kyuubi like a friend, and Kyuubi has yet to steer him wrong as far as I can tell."

"Tell him the truth." Kushina suggested, "Explain it to him in a way that he'll understand. He'll understand, and Kyuubi doesn't seem like the same cruel creature they say he used to be. Give Naruto a chance to tell you how he talks to Kyuubi, and see if you can talk to Kyuubi too."

"Should I tell Fuu, too?" Minato asked, "I mean, she shares a room with Naruto still and she's probably seen him talking to his reflection."

"Are you talking about the other Nii-san?" Fuu asked, coming into the room, "Nii-san is still awake, and the other Nii-san wants to talk to both of you since you found out 'bout him."

"Did they send you, Fuu-chan?" Kushina asked.

Fuu nodded, so Minato and Kushina went to Naruto and Fuu's room to talk to Kyuubi for the first time.

When they arrived, Naruto was sitting in front of the mirror with plenty of space on either side of him.

"If you put your hands on my shoulders, you can hear the other me." he said.

Trusting their son, Minato and Kushina did so and turned to the mirror.

**Finally we get to chat.** Kyuubi said, **You want to tell him or shall I?**

"I will." Minato said determinedly.

With that, he explained to Naruto about when Kyuubi attacked and what he had to do with the biju. Fuu, sitting quietly on her bed, heard everything too.

"So I've got a demon inside me." Naruto said, "Kyuubi no Yoko."

**Could be worse.** Kyuubi replied, **Shukaku's a nutcase. Has been since before last time he was sealed. He was sealed again about the time you were born, kid.**

"How did you end up alive if you were sealed once before?" Kushina asked the biju, "By all accounts, killing the host kills the biju."

**My host chose to expel me and give me another chance when he died.** Kyuubi replied, **He grew on me. An idiot at first, but that might've been because people around here thought he was me and rejected him. He grew up pretty quick after that silver-haired jonin took him on. Ok, so the guy favoured emo-boy over my kid, but he figured out his mistake eventually.**

"Silver-haired jonin?" Minato asked, "Do you mean Hatake Kakashi, the Rokudaime?"

**One and the same. The only team he passed was my host, emo-boy and that pink-haired wildcat. If there was anyone that scared me and my host, it was her.**

"Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura and the jinchuuriki were a team?" Minato asked.

"Jinchuuriki?" Naruto asked.

**A name for what you are, although my last host called it demeaning.** Kyuubi explained, **Do me a favour, Hokage, and don't call your son that.**

Minato nodded, stunned that he was holding a decent conversation with _Kyuubi_.

**If it's worth anything to you, his death was quick.** Kyuubi offered, **He died young, but he died fast.**

"Small consolation." Kushina scoffed, "Someone wrote him out of history."

"Why?" Fuu asked, coming over and taking her brother's hand, "Why write him out of history?"

**Some people didn't like him, little one.** Kyuubi replied, **Powerful people.**

They talked some more, and then Kyuubi declared that Naruto and Fuu needed to sleep so there was no point talking any longer.

Although they complained, the two children went to bed and their parents followed suit.

--ooo--

Three months later, a collection of little packages arrived at the Namikaze home. They were addressed to Naruto, Fuu and their friends.

Naruto received a cute little toad purse, one that he'd seen a cheaper copy of in a local shop and been intending to buy, because he loved toads. "Gama-chan" was a very good gift for Naruto.

Fuu got a calligraphy set, with a note that suggested she get Fai to teach her calligraphy and seals, since she was so interested in them already.

Choji got a pretty tin full of sweets, but was warned not to eat them all at once. Even when he was finished eating the sweets, he kept the tin because of the battle scene painted on it.

Shikamaru got his own shogi set, a really good quality one in a case, so that he could play wherever he had an opponent.

Hinata and Ino got pretty dolls dressed like geisha, which they loved to bits.

For Neji there was a brand new shuriken set made from the finest steel, since he was at the age where one started training with real shuriken at the Academy, and Tenten got steel kunai for the same reason.

Kiba received a book about dog breeds from around the world, which eventually fell apart and had to be repaired from overuse.

Shino got a book about insects from around the world, which he treated well but eventually had to ask for the pages to be glued back in because he read it so much.

Sasuke received some seeds and a pot, with a note saying that if he liked tomatoes so much he should grow his own. He did, and loved his even more than the ones his mother bought for him.

--ooo--

(Excerpt from _The History of Konoha: Sandaime Hokage's second reign_)

The Uchiha are dead. Massacred by an unknown assailant.

Only Uchiha Sasuke, age seven, remains alive through good fortune and luck. He was late returning home from the Academy, and saw the aftermath. He has yet to name the assailant, who he saw.

If only we had realised sooner that Uchiha Shisui's death was not suicide, then we might have saved the Uchiha from this fate.

(End excerpt)

--ooo--

(Excerpt from _The True History of Konoha During the Reigns of the Sandaime and Godaime Hokages_)

The Uchiha are dead. Massacred by their prodigy.

Only Uchiha Sasuke, age seven, remains alive through sheer chance. He remained after classes at the Academy, intent on training harder to equal or better his brother, and arrived just as his older brother slew the last of his kin.

If only we had realised that Uchiha Shisui's death was not suicide, then we might have saved the Uchiha, or at least some of them.

As it stands, however, Sasuke will grow up alone because his brother has fled Konoha and joined the band of rogue ninjas calling themselves Akatsuki.

(End excerpt)

--ooo--

"Hey, Anko." Kushina said, "I'm so glad you could make it on such short notice."

"Eh. I can always keep an eye on the brats." Anko replied, shrugging her shoulders, "So, you want me to pick up the munchkins from the Academy and keep an eye on them for an hour or so back here 'til everyone comes gets 'em?" Anko had a habit of calling the children munchkins, although it was in a very affectionate way, and they accepted it.

"That's the plan." Kushina confirmed, "Obito's still away on that mission, Rin's working at the hospital, Kakashi's _in_ the hospital, and the other adults are going to be at the meeting with us."

"Where's the littlest munchkin, anyway?" Anko asked, "She usually comes running whenever I come in through the door."

"She's over at Kaemon-sama's place." Kushina replied, "He'll be bringing her back later. She's been over there a lot, lately. He spoils that girl, I swear. He's got his own grandson to spoil now, too."

"Konohamaru's too small to spoil, and a boy." Minato replied, appearing behind his wife, "Girls are _much_ easier to spoil, you know."

Kushina smiled at her husband and brought his face down for a kiss.

"Hey, leave the sap until I'm _not_ around, 'kay?" Anko cut in, making a face.

Minato and Kushina laughed, and headed out to the meeting.

--ooo--

"I'm worried about Itachi." Mikoto admitted, "He's been acting so strangely lately. It's like he's possessed or something."

"Have you spoken to Fugaku about it?" Kushina asked.

"He's seen it too." Mikoto admitted, "Even Sasuke's seen it."

--ooo--

Itachi turned to Shisui and said, "Be quick. I have study to do."

"It's about that, Itachi." Shisui said, "You've been studying too much. What are you trying to find?"

Itachi turned to walk away.

--ooo--

"He's been locking himself away in his room with old scrolls and books." Fugaku told Minato, "I don't know what he's looking for, but he's looking through old ANBU texts, old ninja mission reports, and anything he can find about the time of the Sandaime and Godaime Hokages."

"Is this a recent thing?" Minato asked.

"The last year or so, actually, since Sasuke entered the Academy." Fugaku admitted, "At first I thought he was just interested in that era, but this goes beyond mere interest."

--ooo--

"What are you trying to find?" Shisui repeated, grabbing Itachi by the arm.

Itachi shook him off and continued to walk away.

"Why are you so interested in the past, Itachi?" Shisui asked, "What has you so enthralled?"

The twelve year old turned to his older friend and replied, "The lies that we are fed from childhood about the past."

--ooo--

"Hey, munchkins." Anko said, seeing them come out of the Academy building, "You all good for an afternoon with Anko-nee-san?"

The kids were eager, but Sasuke said he had to go home.

"Aniki is going to help me today." he said, "He promised."

"We'll walk you there." Anko said, "No use you walking home alone when we're goin' that way anyway."

--ooo--

"Itachi, what do you mean?" Shisui asked, "What lies?"

"The lies about a boy and the way things truly were back then." Itachi replied, "Tell me why they forgot Rokudaime's third student."

"He died young." Shisui said, confused, "But ninja are forgotten all throughout the years. Not every ninja does great deeds."

"Tell me who defeated the Suna jinchuuriki in the Suna and Oto invasion." Itachi challenged.

"I-I-I…" Shisui couldn't say. No one knew who had defeated the jinchuuriki of Suna.

"It was the boy we don't know the name of." Itachi said, "I know the truth, now: Konoha is rotten from branch to root. We idolise traitors and cast out heroes."

"What are you saying, Itachi?" Shisui demanded, "Konoha is a good and just place. You can't bandy about accusations like that!"

Itachi turned to Shisui, Sharingan blazing, and said, "I will destroy the corruption that is Konoha, starting from the very clan that was spawned by it."

--ooo--

"Anko-nee-san…" Naruto said warily.

"Yeah, Naruto?" she asked, turning to look at him.

"Is that water usually so muddy and stuff?" he asked, pointing at the nearby stream.

Anko walked over to the stream and peered into the murky water, puzzled. This stream usually ran clear.

There was something in the water, and Anko didn't think it was a pile of junk that had fallen in by accident.

"Kids, go find a policeman or an ANBU." she said, "Tell them there's something in the creek by the Uchiha compound."

The children raced off in pairs and trios to find someone, anyway, who could help Anko with what she'd found.

--ooo--

"Hokage-sama!" an ANBU gasped as he/she appeared in the meeting room, "A body has been found in the creek that runs by the Uchiha compound."

"Whose body is it? Do you know?" Minato asked.

"Uchiha Shisui." the ANBU replied, "His body was found by Mitarashi Anko and the children in her care. Your son was amongst them."

"Is it suspicious?" Fugaku asked worriedly.

"It is unclear if it was suicide or murder." the ANBU admitted.

"Who was the last person seen with him or that he was known to want to see?" Kaemon asked, already knowing the truth but keeping it hidden for the sake of everyone around him.

"He apparently was going to talk to Itachi an hour or so ago and hasn't been seen since, although Itachi has been seen since then."

"Find Itachi and take him into custody." Minato said, "If he didn't do it, he may have information that will help us solve this issue."

--ooo--

Itachi was taken into custody, and his reaction to Shisui's death made Ibiki, a senior member of the Interrogation Unit, suspect that he was the reason Shisui was dead.

Within hours of his capture, Itachi had escaped and fled Konoha, swearing to destroy the corrupted place he once called home.

* * *

...And so ends the third major change from canon/past timeline to story/present timeline.

The timeskip will break up between the end of this chapter and the time when Obito comes home. See you then.


	13. Chapter 12

Since I don't know if people got emails about this or realised...I had to entirely reformat this story and at the same time consolidated two chapters into one chapter.

Another chapter has a small amount added to the bottom of it (chapter 5, I think), so it might be worthwhile going back and reading that little bit.

Anywho...Don't known Naruto, never will

As I pointed out to Blood Zephyr (who reviewed what was at the time chapter 12 and is now chapter 11), Konoha is not truly in and of itself corrupt, but a small portion was corrupt. To follow Itachi's tree analogy...a tree can be rotten in one branch but the whole tree can be saved with the removal of the branch, but a tree that is hollow can still live and stand provided that whatever hollowed the tree is not still active. Hence, the powerful people Kyuubi spoke of who wrote Naruto out of history died, but the hollow they left (Naruto's absense) meant that the tree could still live on, just missing a bit. Unless you knew the tree was hollow, you'd never even realise that it was missing the core.

* * *

(Excerpt from _Konoha's Ghosts_)

From Chapter 3: Uchiha's Shadow

It was not only the ghosts of children who appeared in the aftermath of Kyuubi's attack. Several adult "ghosts" also appeared. The best known of these is the Uchiha ghost.

His first known appearance is in the hospital, just after the Kyuubi attack. He is headed for a room where a lone infant, orphaned at birth, is sleeping. For whatever reason, said infant is not in the nursery with the other children, and the Uchiha ghost peers at him in his sterile crib before reaching out, and then vanishing.

This is one of only two "ghosts" who have names. Almost a year prior to Kyuubi's attack, the Yondaime Hokage lost one of his students in a mission. The boy's name was Uchiha Obito, and he was twelve at the time.

(End excerpt)

--ooo--

"Hey, Neji, are you going to introduce Lee to Bito-nii-san when he comes home?" Naruto asked.

Neji glanced over at Naruto, wondering why he'd brought that up so suddenly.

"I mean, Bito-nii-san said he wants to meet our team mates if he hasn't already, but Lee's got this Gai-worship thing going on that might be a bit weird for Bito-nii-san." Naruto explained.

"If Bito has issues with our team mate, he can take 'em up with us." Tenten replied from the other side of Neji.

Fuu stirred her ramen, eyed the older kids, and asked if Lee had any hobbies apart from mimicking Gai.

"You can talk, Fuu." Ino teased, eying the girl's orange dress and hand-me-down jacket. If that wasn't mimicry of her brother, then no one knew what was.

Fuu smiled back, and called to Teuchi for another bowl of miso ramen. For some reason, after their parents found out about Naruto's conversations with Kyuubi, Fuu and Naruto had started going to Ichiraku Ramen a lot, both becoming fond of the stuff. The only explanation Naruto would give his father was that "Kyuubi's last host was addicted to the stuff so Kyuubi got addicted to the stuff".

"He appears quite knowledgeable about cartography and topography." Neji said.

"Carto-what?" Naruto asked.

"He said cartography." Ino replied, "It means mapmaking."

"What's topography? Is it the same thing?" Fuu asked.

"That's more like reading maps and charts rather than making them." Tenten said, "If he looks at a map, he can tell you exactly how far the land rises or falls from point A to point B, where it rises most, where it falls most, what the terrain is like and the best route across it. I swear it's all he does when he's not training."

"Anyway," Ino cut in as Fuu's ramen arrived, "Bito doesn't get back until next week, right? Plenty of time to figure out what to do."

--ooo--

Obito eyed the familiar gates that welcomed him home and decided that he was glad to be back.

"Oi, Goggles." Asuma called from behind him, "You going in or what?"

Obito had started to regret his decision to bring Asuma home, since all the guy did was smoke and sharpen his trench knives. He called them family heirlooms, once owned by his namesake ancestor and passed through the generations or something.

"Hey, it's been four years since I left." Obito defended, hitching his backpack up higher, "Unlike _you_, _I_ have people who are very happy to see me come home. Including two very special little blondes."

"Yeah, yeah." Asuma mumbled, "Let's get going."

"Bito!" someone yelled from the gates.

"Bito-nii-san!" someone else called.

"And here's part of the welcoming committee." Obito told Asuma smugly.

Fuu and Tenten had been at the gate with a message from Juuyondaime to the gate guards when they spotted the two men. Now they were hurtling towards Obito and his unknown companion, eager to greet their until-now-absent older friend.

Asuma watched the two girls hurtle at Obito, who caught them both and hoisted one up onto each shoulder.

"Bito-nii-san, did you get my letters?" the washed out girl in orange asked eagerly.

"Did you get the pictures I sent you?" the girl with two buns atop her head cut in.

"I got all of them." Obito replied, "Everyone else was very jealous." He turned to Asuma and said, "Asuma, these girls are Namikaze Fubuki and Baimiao Tenten. Fuu, Tenten, this is Sarutobi Asuma. He's Kaemon-sama's son."

"I'm pleased to meet you." Fuu said, bowing as best she could from Obito's shoulder, "That would make you Konohamaru's uncle too, right?"

Asuma nodded, bemused. Of course, now he remembered. Obito was the student of Juuyondaime, so he was bound to know Juuyondaime's friends and family. Fubuki could only have been that pale baby Kushina had given birth to just before he left, although at the time he'd not known her name. Snowstorm was a good name for her.

As they passed through the gates, the rest of the "welcoming committee" turned up as if drawn by some unheard signal.

Asuma was stunned at the sheer number of little brats gathered around Obito, one of whom was clearly a genin and doing his best to preserve his dignity. A Hyuuga, by the look of him. Come to think of it, Tenten had a forehead protector too.

Off to one side, a boy wearing a green unitard-like outfit was hovering, waiting for things to calm down.

"Bito, come meet my other team mate." Tenten insisted.

Obito put her and Fuu down then turned to see the boy in green.

"Ack!" he yelped, "It's multiplying!"

"Pay up." Ino told Choji, "I told you he'd say multiplying."

While Choji moodily handed over some money to his friend, Asuma looked again and saw that, yep, the guy looked like a mini-Gai. This was not good.

"This is Rock Lee, Neji and my team mate." Tenten declared as she dragged Lee over to meet Obito, "Gai's our sensei now."

"They're letting Gai teach?" Asuma mumbled to Obito.

"Must be running out of teachers." Obito replied, "I mean, there's no other reason they'd let him take on a team."

"It's supposed to be a First Strike team." Kakashi said, appearing behind the two men, "Gai was the best one to teach them. Lee can't use chakra, either, so Gai's focusing on taijutsu for him. Who else could teach that kid?"

Obito yelped and whirled around, glaring at his cyclopean team mate. Kakashi gave his now infamous eye smile and turned to look at the kids.

"Y'know, I might take on a team next year." Asuma mused, "Any tips on who to choose?"

"There'll be a new Ino-Shika-Cho next year." Obito offered, "Maybe you could train the next Infiltration/Interrogation team. Watch out for Shikamaru, though. He's lazy, but a genius. Or, he was when I last saw him."

"Still is." Kakashi confirmed, "Drives Umino-sensei crazy, that lot."

"Umino Iruka's a teacher now? He was teacher's aide when I left." Obito said, stunned, "I thought it took six years as a teacher's aide to make teacher."

"He's one of a kind, and he can mostly control our lot." Kakashi replied, "Naruto sings his praises, too. The guy can do no wrong in Naruto's eyes."

Obito laughed, knowing that Naruto could be rather picky with his role models, and said he had to go report to Juuyondaime, and Asuma had to too.

Asuma swiftly followed Obito away. If it was anyone else, they would've said he was scared of kids. Asuma had faced assassins and rogue samurai for the Daimyo, so why would he be scared of kids?

--ooo--

"You got my letter about what happened?" Minato asked his student.

Obito nodded.

"How'd they take it?" the Uchiha asked.

"Sasuke in particular withdrew considerably." Minato explained, "He's become almost obsessed with finding his brother and bringing him back to Konoha, insistent that Itachi killed Shisui."

"Is there proof of that?" Obito asked, "I mean, Itachi was a bit weird, but…"

"Do you really think Shisui would commit suicide by thrusting a kunai through his heart and then jumping into the creek?" Minato cut in, "You know as well as I do that Itachi has been obsessive about some unknown point of history ever since Sasuke entered the Academy."

"Can you prove a link between that and the death of Shisui?" Obito prompted, "I mean, I babysat Itachi as a kid, and he was always looking stuff up in old books even then. Pre-massacre Uchiha history was his favourite topic."

"The files he was pulling out were all post-massacre." Minato replied, "Far enough post-massacre that Sasuke had returned from his training trip and was training under Morino Ibiki. Around the time that Aburame Shino refused the Hunter-nin scout and Inuzuka Kiba refused the ANBU scout."

"That's about fifteen years post-massacre." Obito said, remembering his history well.

"I've looked through every file I can find, and nothing I've read has anything suspicious about it." Minato said, "It's around that time that The Eleven fell apart briefly before pulling together again, and the history books speak of a dark time when Konoha nearly fell apart. It doesn't say why, though."

"I'll go talk to Sasuke, if you like." Obito offered, "I mean, he's always listened to me before now. Why should now be any different?"

--ooo--

(The following text was found engraved into the back wall of the Konoha Ninja Academy. The XXXX marks where time/hands/other forces have worn away words/phrases/names or parts of these. Author and date unknown)

Dear XXXX,

I miss you. We all miss you.

Why did you have to XXXX XXXX like that?

Did you realise how much it would hurt us all?

You were bottom of the class when we graduated, our "dead-last idiot", even lower in the rankings than XXXX, but you really came through when we left the Academy, didn't you?

The last at everything, though. Last to become chunin, last to become jonin, last to have a solo mission, but first to die.

You were stronger than any of us, but you said it was because of us that you were strong. Why is that, XXXX? Why did we make you strong? Chasing XXXXke would make you strong, I know that, but I never understood why we all made you strong.

Your precious people, you called us. We were your family, the only family you ever knew or wanted, you said, because you were orphXXXX at XXXX.

But now you're gone. XXXX says she'll never marry. She loved you too much. Were you so dense? Was your nickname of XXXX really true?

I won't leave you ever again, I'll always stay near to where I can go see you if I ever need someone to cry to and talk to about the stuff I can't tell XXXX, shishou or XXXX-sensei about. Although KaXXXX-XXXXei would understand me writing this to you, I can't tell him. It's too personal.

You always had a smile on your face, never letting the past affect you as much as it probably should have. Therefore I promise to always look forward, but never forget what is behind me.

Love you always,

SaXXXX

(End text)

--ooo--

Sasuke was flinging kunai at a target when Obito tracked him down.

"Hey, what did that target do to you?" Obito asked, eying the badly damaged target.

"I need to get strong." Sasuke replied, "I need to get strong enough to bring Aniki back to face trial. He killed Shisui-nii-san, and he needs to be brought to trial about that."

Obito sat down on the edge of the Uchiha training ground and said, "Y'know, strength isn't always measured in how many kunai hit the centre of a target or how many jutsu you can do."

Sasuke stopped throwing kunai.

"When it counts, if you have precious people to protect then you will be strong." Obito said, "A weak man protects only himself. Avengers are weak, because they cling to the past rather than grasping the future. When I was in the Academy back before the war broke out, I found a message carved into a wall, hidden behind a bush that no one ever trimmed. It was about a boy who was dead-last at the Academy, and yet was the strongest person in the field because he always had someone to protect. I don't know if it's still there, but I took part of it as my motto for life. Want to hear it?"

Sasuke sat down next to his favourite cousin.

"It said at one point, 'I promise to always look forward, but never forget what is behind me'." Obito said, "I guess whoever wrote it was promising the person they were writing to that they'd never forget them, but they wouldn't let their grief or whatever it was tie them down."

"So?" Sasuke asked, "I'm still going to bring Aniki back to face trial. He killed Shisui-nii-san."

"Maybe so, but don't let it rule your life 'kay?" Obito replied.

Sasuke made no promises, but unconsciously altered his dreams and desires to fit the ideals his cousin presented him with.

* * *

So, Sasuke's going to be radically different from now on...or maybe just inwardly so. I can't help but see him as emotionally stunted by what his brother did.

So who would SaXXXX (the one writing the message) be? What do you think the actual message said? Tell me. I want to see if it was clear enough, or if it was a bit obscure.

Hugs and kisses,

chibiangelfromheaven


	14. Chapter 13

Sorry it took so long (relatively) to get this out. I'm a university student, and I had three assignments due in the space of a week and a bit, so writing's been a bit off the priority list.

Thanks to all those who tried to puzzle out my little letter in the last chapter. I've included the actual letter at the bottom of the chapter, so you'll be able to see exactly what the writer wrote. I'm surprised that most of it was the same for most people, but some bits were different.

BTW: it's cut off where it is because it was getting waaaaaaaaaay too long.

Don't own Naruto, never will, although I'm aiming to cosplay as Shippuden Tenten for the local anime convention this June.

* * *

(Excerpt from the inauguration speech of Rokudaime Hokage Hatake Kakashi)

I am not a perfect man. I am not a good man. I am here because the best ninja for the job is not.

My life cannot be defined by my successes, but by my failures.

I failed as a team leader, my team mate died, yet they made me a sensei.

I failed as a sensei, my team fell apart, yet they made me Hokage.

I will do my best, but I may still fail as Hokage.

For the ninjas who I count as my role models, I will be the best Hokage I can be.

Do not expect miracles, but do expect that I will protect the Konoha my role models loved.

I stand here as Hokage, but do not forget I am still a man.

(End excerpt)

--ooo--

"Are you serious? He's never passed a team."

"Do you doubt your son, Hokage-sama?"

"Of course not, but I know my student."

"He's a good ninja."

"He's a lazy, _porn-reading_ ninja."

"Obito rubbed off on him, then?"

"He always _was_ lazy, but no one realised it. That boy knew that getting things done was easier and took less time than having people nag him about doing it. I blame my sensei for the porn-reading part, though."

"You know that if you asked anyone else to be his sensei you'd have to explain about Kyuubi to them. Kakashi already knows and accepts Naruto, prisoner and all."

"Who do you suggest teaming him up with?"

"Sasuke and the Haruno girl, Sakura."

"You're trying to get me killed, aren't you? Fugaku will _freak_ when he finds out his son is being teamed with someone from outside our lot. He wants Sasuke teamed with Shikamaru and Hinata, you know."

"And have Shikaku, Choza and Inoichi kill you for splitting their three up? There'd have to be an addition to the group no matter how we teamed them up. At least this way it's someone they get along with reasonably well."

"I _knew_ I should've listened to Kushina when she told me to draw names out of a hat."

--ooo--

Naruto grinned at the others and gave them two thumbs up. He'd passed. Barely, but he'd passed.

"You're fortunate that Bito convinced your father to allow him teach you Kage Bushin." Shino told him, "You would most likely not have passed otherwise."

Unable to perform normal bushin because of his high levels of chakra and lack of control over it, Naruto had displayed an uncanny knack for high level jutsu at a young age, and for creating his own jutsu.

Mizuki watched as the eight new genin clumped together, Ino dragging her friend Sakura with her.

They were so privileged, had everything handed to them on silver platters. They'd never known what it was like to be hated or rejected.

His master had told him, urged him, to shatter their little clique. He'd even given him a way to do so.

--ooo--

Fuu was bouncing around like a little monkey when Naruto got home.

"I knew you'd do it, Nii-san." she declared, "I knew you'd make it."

Naruto grinned and dropped down next to his sister on the floor.

"Two years and you'll be out in the big world with me." Naruto told her, "Wait and see. We'll be the best ninjas ever."

"You'll be Hokage and I'll be a famous jonin." Fuu declared, "Maybe I'll become an interrogator."

"That would be scary." Naruto said, "You'd have 'em falling at your feet begging to tell you their secrets rather than get interrogated by you."

As two kids laughed, a small summoned animal appeared with a message for Naruto, asking him to go to a certain place later to get a graduation gift. It was signed by Obito, which wasn't out of the ordinary. As brash and bold as he was, Obito had a hard time giving anyone gifts. He usually did it in private.

No one thought anything of it, so Naruto skipped off to the place in question at the appointed time to meet up with, he thought, Bito-nii-san.

--ooo--

(Excerpt from the journal of Umino Iruka, during the twelfth year of the second leadership of the Sandaime Hokage)

I can't explain how I found Naruto last night without being seen as a fool or a crazed man.

How does one explain that one followed a ghost without sounding like one has been eating a hallucinogenic mushroom or drug? It sounds crazy to me, and I was the one following the ghost!

It was little more than flickers in the trees, but the ghost was there in bright orange like Naruto wears. Actually, the ghost must've been a girl judging by the outfit. I've seen a jacket like the one she was wearing before, Naruto wore one like it for years until he outgrew it, but she was otherwise obscured in the dim light and the trees.

He's ok, though, albeit shaken from the discovery of what was sealed within him. The ghost helped me find him before anything truly bad happened to him.

Why would a ghost want me to find Naruto?

(End excerpt)

--ooo--

"Bito-nii-san, what are you doing here?" Fuu asked as she opened the front door.

"I came to congratulate the new genin." Obito replied, "He's here, right? Sensei said he'd be here."

Fuu began to put the pieces together, and bolted out the door before Obito knew what was happening.

--ooo--

"Iruka-sensei!"

Iruka spun around and saw an orange-and-flaxen blur come to a halt in front of him and form into Namikaze Fubuki.

"Fubuki-chan, what's wrong?" Iruka asked, "You look like you've seen a ghost, and run away from it."

"Nii-san's in trouble." Fuu gasped, "Someone tricked him into going to an out of the way place and I don't know what to do. I was going to get Chichiue, but I saw you first and…"

Iruka's mind only registered a few things: Nii-san had to mean Naruto, he'd been tricked, and he was somewhere that wasn't easy to reach.

"Lead the way, Fubuki." he commanded, "Let's go find your brother."

"Ok." Fuu said, straightening up.

She swiftly led off, taking Iruka along the shortest path through the trees to the place where Naruto was.

--ooo--

**Kid, you shouldn't be here.** Kyuubi said.

"I'll be fine." Naruto replied, "It's just Bito-nii-san. He's done this before, you know, and at this place."

Kyuubi recognised the place, however, from a very different event. He suspected it was a trap, but Naruto wasn't listening to him. Again.

"There you are, Naruto."

Naruto turned and saw Iruka and Fuu coming out of the tree cover.

"What're you guys doing here?" Naruto asked.

"Bito-nii-san turned up at our place asking for you." Fuu replied, "That note wasn't from him."

"Eh?" Naruto asked.

Fuu tried to explain it to him, but Iruka's schoolyard-sharpened senses detected an incoming weapon and cut them off.

Naruto saw Iruka hunched over him and froze.

"Are you ok, Naruto?" Iruka asked.

Fuu, several metres away where Iruka-sensei had pushed her, saw the giant shuriken poking out of Iruka-sensei's back.

"Are you ok, Naruto?" the teacher repeated.

Naruto nodded, too stunned to say anything.

"Why are you so eager to protect this boy?" Mizuki snarled, "How can anyone _like_ this prankster?"

It was true that Naruto had a few pranks to his name, but they were harmless things like painting the Hokage faces with water-based paints or replacing Kakashi's porn novels with Rin's sappy romance ones. Admittedly that one had ended with Naruto handing by his ankles from the tallest tree in Konoha, but apart from that no harm had been done.

"Because he's a good kid." Iruka replied, "Mischievous, perhaps, but he never aims to hurt people."

Mizuki still intended to kill Naruto, and if he could kill Fubuki and Iruka in the bargain then all the better.

He counted, however, without knowing about Kyuubi and his influence on Naruto.

**Kid.**

'Not now, Kyuubi.' Naruto thought back.

**Kid. Use the Taijuu Kage Bushin.**

'Use what?'

**Trust me. The seals are…**

Naruto would've listened for once, but Mizuki attacked again and he had to dodge.

Ducking and dodging whatever Mizuki threw at him, Naruto had little time to listen to Kyuubi's insistence that he use this unknown technique.

**Kid. You want to die?** Kyuubi demanded.

Before Naruto could comply, a second Naruto hurled through the trees and stopped under a large tree, closely followed by Iruka.

When the second Naruto flung a kunai at Iruka, the real Naruto was stunned. When Iruka turned into Mizuki after being hit by the kunai, it made a bit of sense. When the second Naruto turned into Iruka, everything made sense.

Watching Iruka and Mizuki duke it out, Naruto spotted Fuu on the far side of the little clearing where the fight was occurring. If he could reach her…

That was when Mizuki pulled out all the stops and gathered chakra around his hand. The chakra-enhanced fist was aimed for Iruka's heart, and Iruka was so exhausted by the fight that he couldn't do anything to stop it.

**Kid. Don't you dare…**

Naruto acted on instinct and dived between Iruka and Mizuki, catching the fist on his shiny new forehead protector.

Mizuki's fist destroyed it, distorting and melting the metal plate beyond repair and ravaging the fabric backing.

"Stay. Away. From. _Him_!" Naruto yelled, drawing on every bit of chakra he had.

**Now, kid. The seals are…**

A thousand or more copies of Naruto appeared in the trees around them, the textbook example of a rarely-seen jutsu known as…

"Taijuu Kage Bushin." Iruka breathed.

The clones were proper Kage Bushin, but at the same time there was something more about them and the real Naruto. They seemed almost…demonic.

Fuu knew something was going on, and decided that _now_ would be a good time to go get Chichiue.

--ooo--

Once Mizuki had been taken away, the only ones who remained in the clearing were Naruto and Iruka.

"Hey, Naruto, come over here." Iruka said.

Naruto walked over to his former sensei, the ruined forehead protector still on.

"Close your eyes."

Naruto did so. He felt Iruka do something, but he didn't know what.

"Ok, open them."

When Naruto opened his eyes, Iruka's forehead was bare and he held Naruto's ruined forehead protector in his hand.

"You needed a new one." the teacher said, pointing at Naruto's forehead.

Iruka's dented and dull forehead protector sat where Naruto's had once been, and there was probably no greater gift that Naruto could have received.

**Well, that's a surprise…You got it anyways.** Kyuubi commented.

Naruto didn't understand, but he was too busy cheering and blubbering to listen to his prisoner/tenant.

--ooo--

"It's a good thing Fuu found you, Iruka-sensei." Minato said, "I might've lost my son, otherwise."

Iruka nodded, having just retold his view of events to the Hokage and former Hokage.

"Hokage-sama…" the teacher said warily.

Minato waited for the rest of the comment/question.

"When Naruto-kun used Taijuu Kage Bushin, he seemed different. Something about him was almost…"

"Inhuman?" Minato offered when it became clear that Iruka couldn't explain what he wanted to say, "Yes. I was afraid you'd say that. There's a very good reason for that, too. Do you remember twelve years ago, when Kyuubi attacked?"

"Vaguely." Iruka admitted, "I lost my father that day, and my mother soon after."

"I didn't actually destroy Kyuubi that day." Minato admitted, "I couldn't. No one could have destroyed it. Not even the great Yondaime himself."

Iruka was confused.

"Kyuubi was too powerful for me to destroy, and I had to find another way to defeat him." Minato explained, "What I tell you now, Iruka, mustn't go beyond these walls. This information is known only to Kaemon-sama, me, my wife, my children, the people who were councillors at the time and my students."

Iruka was amazed that there was such a closely guarded secret in Konoha.

"I sealed Kyuubi away, striking a bargain with the Shinigami." Minato said, "I sealed Kyuubi within my newborn son."

"Naruto has Kyuubi inside of him?" Iruka asked, "Is he influenced by Kyuubi?"

"You know that Orioke no Jutsu he uses?" Minato asked, "Turns out this isn't the first time Kyuubi was sealed inside a child. Last time, the boy was an orphan and a prankster who invented that jutsu and used it on perverts. Kyuubi taught it to my son before even I knew that the two could communicate. My _daughter_ knew they could communicate, although she called Kyuubi Nijuushin-nii-san _(doppelganger older brother)_ until she knew who he really was."

Iruka began to understand a few of Naruto's quirks, but at the same time he was worried that Kyuubi might influence Naruto into doing malicious things. In the old stories, after all, Kyuubi was violent and cruel and cared only for himself.

"If you're worried about Kyuubi affecting Naruto, then let me put to rest your fears right now." Minato assured him, "Kyuubi is far from the vicious creature history portrays him to be. His last host had a remarkable affect on him, and this time he was under some sort of jutsu when he attacked Konoha."

--ooo--

"No jonin's going to fall for that, Naruto." Sakura whined.

Naruto fastened the duster into the sliding door, and then sat down again.

"Serves 'em right for being this late." he replied.

**I know who it i-is.** Kyuubi sang. He _loved_ teasing Naruto this time around.

'Shut up.' Naruto hissed back. He _hated_ it when Kyuubi teased him.

Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto had been waiting for hours for their new sensei to come, and they'd exhausted their usual list of things to do when waiting for people. Twice.

"We've got three choices." Sasuke finally decided, "They're on their way back from a mission or on a mission and no one's told us, they've forgotten…"

The door slid open, and the duster dropped onto a silver-haired head in a cloud of white dust.

"…Or it's Kakashi." Sasuke concluded.

"Kakashi-nii-san?" Naruto yelped, "You're our sensei?"

"Hmm…" the odd-eyed jonin said, peering at the duster that had fallen into his hand, "I vaguely remember Obito doing a similar thing when we became genin."

Naruto grinned. Rin-nee-san had told him about that one.

"Meet me on the roof." Kakashi said. He vanished in a puff of smoke, and the duster dropped to the ground.

--ooo--

"We have to _what_?" Naruto and Sakura bawled. Sasuke chose to remain silent.

"The graduation test at the Academy only shows that you gave the potential to become genin. To actually become genin you need to pass my test." Kakashi repeated gleefully.

"When?" Sasuke asked bluntly.

**He really needs to work on his vocabulary.** Kyuubi commented to Naruto.

Naruto had a hard time hiding his grin. Getting Sasuke to say give more than a monosyllabic answer to most questions was like getting Neji to try new foods: near impossible.

"Tomorrow morning." Kakashi replied, "Meet me at Training Ground Ten tomorrow morning, and don't eat breakfast, unless you want to see it again."

* * *

So, next time we get to see how the trio work in this time's survival test. How do you think it'll differ?

Oh, here's the actual letter from the last chapter, too:

Dear Naruto,  
I miss you. We all miss you.  
Why did you have to kill yourself like that?  
Did you realise how much it would hurt us all?  
You were bottom of the class when we graduated, our "dead-last idiot", even lower in the rankings than Shikamaru, but you really came through when we left the Academy, didn't you?  
The last at everything, though. Last to become chunin, last to become jonin, last to have a solo mission, but first to die.  
You were stronger than any of us, but you said it was because of us that you were strong. Why is that, Naruto? Why did we make you strong? Chasing Sasuke would make you strong, I know that, but I never understood why we all made you strong.  
Your precious people, you called us. We were your family, the only family you ever knew or wanted, you said, because you were orphaned at birth.  
But now you're gone. Hinata says she'll never marry. She loved you too much. Were you so dense? Was your nickname of dobe really true?  
I won't leave you ever again, I'll always stay near to where I can go see you if I ever need someone to cry to and talk to about the stuff I can't tell Ino, shishou or Kakashi-sensei about. Although Kakashi-sensei would understand me writing this to you, I can't tell him. It's too personal.  
You always had a smile on your face, never letting the past affect you as much as it probably should have. Therefore I promise to always look forward, but never forget what is behind me.  
Love you always,  
Sakura


	15. Chapter 14

I make no excuses for my delay. It's my own fault, and no one and nothing else's.

Anywho...I don't own Naruto, and never will.

I coulda done better on the bell test, but I couldn't think of any other way to do what I wanted to do.

Oh...If anyone can think of a better Japanese translation for my jutsu that turns up later on I'd be happy to hear it. If it sounds good, I might even use it (with permission and acknowledgement, of course)

* * *

(Excerpt from _My Hokages_)

From Part 2, Chapter 4: Blood, Sweat, Tears and Bells…Again

From the day he left the Academy, Nii-san was determined to be the greatest ninja he could be.

He didn't count on Kakashi-nii-san being his sensei, though.

He could handle Sasuke, and Sakura was tolerable despite her then-obvious crush on the Uchiha boy, but there was little doubt at the time that sooner or later Obito-nii-san or Rin-nee-san would be called in by Naruto to deal with Kakashi-nii-san.

(End excerpt)

--ooo--

Naruto rubbed his eyes sleepily, jealous of his little sister. _She_ got to sleep for another hour.

Sakura and Sasuke looked ready to go back to bed when they arrived, and they _knew_ Kakashi would be late. He was as bad as Obito sometimes, but he didn't have the same lame excuses. Instead, he just ignored demands for explanations and read his damn books.

"How long do you think he'll be?" Naruto asked Sasuke.

"Three hours." Sasuke replied bluntly.

"I'm betting on four at best." Naruto replied.

"He won't be here before lunchtime." Sakura yawned, "Ino told me about him."

"Yo."

The three twelve year olds jumped, then turned to face their sensei.

"You're on time for once." Naruto yelped.

**It sounds like _I'm_ rubbing off on _you_, kid.** Kyuubi teased.

"Well, I figured today it would be better not to be late." Kakashi replied, giving his eye smile.

"Rin threatened to beat you to a pulp if you were late, didn't she?" Sasuke asked bluntly. For such a sweet girl, Rin had quite a violent streak.

Kakashi winced. He hated it when Sasuke said things like that. His words tended to cut deeper than any kunai, _and_ he was almost always right.

"So what's the deal, Kakashi-nii-san?" Naruto asked, dropping onto the ground, "You gonna test us or what?"

Kakashi reached into his pocket and pulled out two bells.

"Ok, here's the deal." he said, "You have until noon to get these from me. If you do, you don't go back to the Academy."

"There are two bells." Sasuke said.

"Yep." Kakashi replied.

"There are three of us." Sasuke continued.

"Yep."

"So one of us will go back to the Academy no matter what." Sakura realised.

Kakashi eye smiled again and said, "Come at me with the intent to kill. You won't stand a chance otherwise."

He disappeared before they could protest.

--ooo--

Two hours later, Kakashi was beginning to wonder if the trio had gone for help or given up. He hadn't seen or heard from them since the test began.

'Maybe Sensei's test wasn't such a good idea after all,' he thought, 'but Naruto is never this quiet for this long, or this patient.'

A crack to Kakashi's left sent him onto high alert, but it turned out to be a massive black dog which ended up lunging at him and knocking him down.

"Oh, I'm sorry." the dog's blonde owner said, "He's such a handful sometimes." She clipped the dog's lead back on and said, "Sumo, get off that poor ninja."

"No harm done." Kakashi assured her once he could move again.

The young woman smiled and walked away, the dog following meekly enough as the woman rebuked him.

Kakashi reached down to check that the bells were there, only to find they were gone.

"Looking for these, Sensei?" Sakura asked, holding up the two bells.

The dog and its owner reappeared, and suddenly dropped their jutsu-based disguises. Sasuke was sitting on the ground, and Naruto was standing behind him holding a length of string.

"Clever." Kakashi said, "However, there are three of you and two bells."

Sakura tossed a bell to Sasuke, who used a jutsu Obito had taught him to cut it in two. He handed half to Naruto and kept half for himself.

Ok, so Kakashi hadn't expected _that_ to happen. He'd been looking forward to stringing one of them up on the post on the edge of the training field.

--ooo--

"So, how'd they do?" Obito asked when Kakashi arrived at the club.

"Naruto modified his anti-pervert jutsu so that it is a ninjutsu-based multipurpose transformation, and he and Sasuke used it to distract me while Sakura took the bells from me," Kakashi replied, "and then Sasuke used that Kasai Ken no jutsu _(Fire sword technique)_ you taught him to cut one of the bells in half so they all had at least part of a bell."

"So Orioke no Jutsu isn't the best name for it, huh?" Obito asked, "It's a clever technique, I have to admit. It's Sharingan-proof, really, and Byakugan-proof too."

Naruto's Orioke no Jutsu was quite infamous for the fact that he could use it against the Uchiha policemen and their Sharingan wouldn't see through it, and that even the finest Byakugan couldn't see through the "illusion" it created. Orioke no Jutsu wasn't a henge or genjutsu at all: it was a highly specific ninjutsu which altered the body by passing a thin film of chakra over the body, returning the chakra to the body for later use through tenketsu on the user's shoulders. It had no time limit for use, unlike a henge, because it didn't need chakra to dissipate from the body for it to work.

"So, when do you start taking them on D-rank missions?" Rin asked.

"Tomorrow I'm taking them to pull weeds." Kakashi replied evilly.

Obito nearly fell off his chair, laughing.

--ooo--

After a string of D-rank missions, Team Seven was utterly bored.

They'd caught the cat three times, weeded at least a hundred gardens, babysat more snot-nosed brats than they cared to count, painted sixteen fences, done fetch and carry work for at least twenty shopkeepers, gone shopping with fifteen different old ladies, and tracked down a litter of Inuzuka puppies that had decided to go wandering.

"Should we ask your dad for something better?" Sakura asked Naruto one day while they were at Ichiraku Ramen, "I mean, he's the one who hands out missions."

"Kakashi-nii-san has to approve of any mission we go on." Naruto pointed out, "I think Kakashi-nii-san doesn't want us on anything better than D-ranks for a while."

"But _why_?" Sakura moaned, "I mean, we're good enough for courier work, surely."

"I'm the Hokage's son." Naruto replied bluntly, "If anything happened to me…"

"You're strong enough to protect yourself, and you'd never be left alone." Sasuke cut in, "Sakura, Kakashi or I will always cover your back."

Sakura and Naruto stared at their team mate and then at each other.

"Wow. Almost two dozen words in one go." Naruto said, counting them up, "That's gotta be a record."

"Hn." Sasuke grunted, turning back to his ramen.

"_Now_ he's back to normal." Naruto teased.

**He had me worried there for a minute.** Kyuubi agreed.

"Yo." Kakashi said, popping up behind them, "I see you're making the most of your downtime."

"There's been an _up_time?" Naruto asked sceptically.

"Well, I've decided you're ready for a C-rank mission." Kakashi explained, "We're going to be escorting a man back to Wave Country and then keeping an eye on the local elections." Kakashi eye-smiled. "It's a formality, but they ask for a ninja team to watch over their elections every four years."

"You mean it?" Sakura squealed, "No more chasing the cat, pulling weeds or going shopping with old ladies?"

"For a while, at least." Kakashi replied cheerfully, "This mission will take at least a month, you see."

"Yahoo!" Naruto yelled, punching the air, "Finally!"

Sakura hugged Sasuke in delight, then let go and blushed darker than her hair when she realised what she'd done.

Sasuke didn't even twitch. Although he'd never admit it, he liked being hugged by Sakura.

--ooo--

"You listen to Kakashi, you hear me?" Kushina commanded.

"Yes, Hahaue." Naruto replied absently.

"Bring 'em back with all limbs attached, Kakashi." Obito said, "You'll lose more than an eye if there's anything missing, you know."

"I'd be glad to lose it if that happened." Kakashi replied, using an orange book titled Kinmotsu Mugen _(Taboo Fantasy)_ to cover his face and muffle his voice so that Kushina and the genin couldn't hear him.

The Mugen series, the modern equivalent of the Icha Icha novels, was a best seller for Jiraiya. He was, once again, a porn writer and many thought he made his fortune selling his books rather than being a proper ninja. To be honest, being a writer was just his cover story. He was Konoha's spymaster, and travelled around meeting his spies while "researching" for his novels.

Tazuna swaggered up then, ready to leave.

"We're escorting this geezer home?" Naruto mumbled to Sakura.

She whacked him and told him to be more respectful to their client.

As they turned to leave, they heard someone yell "Hey! Don't leave just yet!"

Fuu raced up with three younger kids in tow.

"Fuu-chan. Konohamaru-kun. Moegi-chan. Udon-kun." Naruto said, "What're you doing here? You should be at the Academy."

"We wanted to see you guys off, Nii-san." Fuu replied once she'd caught her breath.

"And we wanted to give you this." Moegi added, holding out little cloth bag.

Konohamaru, Moegi and Udon were Naruto's devoted "apprentices" for the past year or so, idolising the boy and begging him to "play ninja" with them at every opportunity.

Naruto took the bag and opened it, finding inside a collection of handmade seals of various kinds including explosive tags, the sticky tags he'd favoured as a prankster, Fuu's special tracker seals that were virtually undetectable, quick-fire tags for when they needed a warm fire in a hurry, and a few miscellaneous seal tags that Naruto knew he might need on missions.

"We all pitched in to make 'em." Konohamaru said proudly, straightening the goggles he wore on his forehead the way Naruto used to.

"Thanks, guys." Naruto said, "They'll get used, for sure."

He tucked the little bag away and turned to Kakashi just as Iruka came charging up like a furious bull.

The four truants would've bolted, had Iruka not grabbed them by the collars before turning to his three former students and wishing them luck on their first C-rank mission.

"Popular kids." Tazuna commented to the gatekeeper ninja.

"The blonde's the Hokage's son, and the other boy's been his friend for years." the gatekeeper replied with a shrug, "The guy who just turned up was their teacher at the Ninja Academy, and he's pretty popular with the students."

"The girl?"

"She's the best friend of a girl the boys know. Got a kick like a mule, too."

"Thanks for the warning." Tazuna said, taking a swig of liquid courage from the flask he was carrying. He had a feeling he was going to need it on the trip home, for more reasons than one.

* * *

Can't have Jiraiya _not_ writing dirty novels, can I?


	16. Chapter 15

Ok, so this one's a bit lousy at times. "Canon" fights aren't really my thing. If I ever get around to adding a new sequence, a totally never-been-in-canon thing, maybe I'll do better. Who knows...maybe when I finally do a Fubuki-centric fight I can write it better.

Don't own Naruto, never will

* * *

(Excerpt from _Pride and Pariahs: Kekkei Genkai across the ages_)

From Part 3, Chapter 7: Ice Masters

Of the three kekkei genkai that originate in Water Country, only one still exists after the Kekkei Genkai Massacres (see Part 1, Chapter 1: Bloody History for more information).

This kekkei genkai is the Hyoton, the ability to manipulate water and form ice that won't melt even in the middle of summer heatwaves.

The reason this kekkei genkai has survived despite the fear and persecution that was and still is rife in Water Country is not because its users are numerous, indeed they were a far smaller group than the two destroyed kekkei genkai user clans that once lived in Kirigakure, but rather because their kekkei genkai has no physical characteristics apart from a tendency towards unisex appearances and hence lends itself to anonymity.

The most famous appearance of this kekkei genkai occurs in Wave Country, where a Hyoton user was employed to hinder/halt the construction of the now-famous Great Naruto Bridge. There is debate over whether this Hyoton user was male or female, but he/she died in the ensuing battle and was buried in Wave Country beside the Kirigakure missing-nin who had raised him/her.

(End excerpt)

--ooo--

It had been an hour since Team Seven had left on their mission, and Kaemon was trying to think why the mission should've been a bit higher than a C-rank escort mission. He was getting old, he realised, and couldn't remember what was so familiar about the mission to Wave Country.

"Kaemon-sama..." Fuu said.

Kaemon glanced up, and saw Fuu standing in the doorway clutching a book.

A very familiar book.

"Where did you find that, Fuu?" he asked.

"On your bookcase." Fuu replied, "I only read a little bit. Is it true?"

"Every word." Kaemon admitted, "The official history omits details and people who are in this one. Why do you ask?"

"Everyone came back, didn't they? History is repeating."

Kaemon sighed and beckoned Fuu over.

She climbed into his lap as she often had as a small child.

"Things are different," he told her, "because I made sure that things changed."

Fuu nodded, and asked to borrow the history book. He gave permission, and she slid off his lap again.

As she left, she turned to Kaemon and said, "Thank you."

"For what?" he asked.

"For everything. If not for you, I wouldn't be here."

As Fuu left the room with the book, Kaemon's blood ran cold as he remembered why the mission had seemed familiar.

"Dear Kami." he whispered, "They're walking right into an A-rank mission."

Unfortunately for him, there was no way to prove that the mission would go up in rank, and that meant no way to call Team Seven back and question Tazuna.

--ooo--

"Man, this is boring." Naruto mumbled.

Sakura was apt to agree, but chose to remain silent for the time being.

"You'll see action sooner or later, Naruto." Kakashi assured him, "Not every mission is full of action, you know."

Naruto shrugged and skirted around a puddle in the road.

As they walked on, he turned to Sakura and quietly asked, "How long has it been since it rained around here?"

"About a week, I think." Sakura replied.

"That's what I thought." Naruto replied, falling back behind Tazuna.

He took a sweet from his bag, unwrapped it and popped it in his mouth, discarding the wrapper on the ground. It'd degrade soon enough, so it was no big deal, right?

Kakashi told him not to litter, and dropped back to pick up the fallen paper.

Suddenly, the puddle exploded and revealed two missing-nins known as the Demon Brothers. Although not powerful, they registered on the Konoha missing-nin radar as minor annoyances, often hired by bigger annoyances.

Kakashi had known all along that they were there, and activated the tag Naruto had dropped. While it appeared to do nothing, the gauntlets the Demon Brothers wore were suddenly ripped off their arms by a powerful magnetic current.

"Naruto," Kakashi said, "tell your sister to tone down her magnetic tags. I can feel my kunai starting to shake from here."

"Will do, Kakashi-nii-san." Naruto replied.

Deprived of their favoured weapons, the Demon Brothers went in for the attack and tried to kill Tazuna, only to be blocked by Sakura and Sasuke.

One of the brothers turned on Naruto, recognising him as the son of the Hokage.

"We'll be living on easy street after this." he cackled as he attacked the blonde.

Naruto fought hard, while Kakashi dealt with the other Demon Brother.

Finally the two missing-nins were tied to a tree, cussing loudly, and Team Seven turned to Tazuna to hear his story. It turned out to be about the coming elections they were to keep an eye on.

"A shipping magnate named Gato's trying to hijack the election by killing me and the other main candidates." Tazuna explained, "He already killed one man, and another's thinking of pulling out."

"This is no C-rank mission, then." Kakashi said, "Why didn't you tell the truth to our Hokage when you hired us?"

"Recession. Our economy's gone completely downhill the last couple of years." Tazuna explained, "We're a trading nation, there's little we can grow ourselves on the islands, so the crop blights in northern Fire Country and the crafter-strikes in Wind Country hit us hard a couple of years ago. Then the Earth Country miners went on strike, so our metal supples began to run out too. We aren't a ninja country, but we've provided ninja tools to Konoha and any passing ninjas ever since we built the Great Naruto Bridge. Without iron and titanium, we can't make the kunai, shuriken and senbon we're known amongst ninjas for."

"The Great Naruto Bridge?" Sakura asked.

'A bridge with my name…' Naruto thought.

**Named for you back then, kid.** Kyuubi thought privately. **You deserved to be immortalised in stone and mortar, for all you did. It's not the stone you wanted it to be, but it's a good substitute.**

"Yeah. A group of Konoha ninjas, a genin team like yours, helped the people of Wave Country build the bridge back at the end of the reign of your Third Hokage. Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke and their teacher Hatake Kakashi saved my ancestor and namesake from Gato's ancestor, and the bridge was named after Naruto because of what he and it stood for…" Tazuna sighed. "Shame about his death."

Sakura, Naruto, Sasuke and Kakashi were confused.

"Killed himself after his candidacy for Sixth Hokage was shattered." Tazuna explained, "Kid lived to become Hokage, I was taught, but the Konoha council made it brutally clear they'd never let him be Hokage. Destroyed him, the history books say. He was a hero outside Konoha, but an outcast inside it."

"That's so sad." Sakura said, never noticing that their names matched the names of the last genin team to do great things for Wave Country.

Sasuke did notice, however, and decided that there was something going on. He knew Haruno Sakura was the name of a famous medic-nin who had been the team mate of his namesake ancestor, and Hatake Kakashi who became Rokudaime was their sensei, but their other team mate had been forgotten.

If this Uzumaki Naruto had done such good things _outside_ Konoha, why had they hated him _inside_ Konoha?

"This is no mission for a genin team, particularly not one with such prominent members like Naruto and Sasuke." Kakashi said, cutting into Sasuke's musings.

"Why the brooder?" Tazuna asked, "Blondie I can understand, with his dad being your top guy and all, but why the other boy?"

"Konoha has a group of elite within the elite." Kakashi replied, "Our Hokage has a very close-knit group of friends, and Sasuke is the son of one of them. His loss would affect a very important part of Konoha."

"Oh! His dad runs the Konoha Police Force." Sakura said, realising what Kakashi meant.

Sasuke clenched his fists. There was no way he would be the reason they turned back. He'd never hear the end of it from Kiba if he was.

"Let's keep going." Naruto said, "I won't be the reason we turn back."

At least there's no kunai and blood involved. Kyuubi sighed. I'll need all my chakra to heal you after the next lot of fights.

Kakashi eye-smiled and said, "Well, looks like we're going on." He turned to Tazuna. "You're lucky my team is the team who got this mission. Any other team would most likely have turned back right now, and you'd be forced to pay for the B-rank mission this turned out to be. As it is, we'll let you negotiate payment later."

They headed off again after checking that no one had any serious wounds, with only Kyuubi aware of what was to come.

--ooo--

(This text is on a stone at the mainland end of the Great Naruto Bridge)

As you cross this bridge, remember that it stands as an eternal testament to the courage one boy showed in the face of despair.

This bridge was named in honour of Uzumaki Naruto, who reminded us that everyone can be a hero if they want to be.

One lifetime is not enough time to thank you for what you did for us, Naruto, but this stone stands as an eternal marker of our gratitude. May this bridge and this stone keep your legacy alive in Wave Country and grant you the eternal acknowledgement that you deserve.

(End text)

--ooo--

The Great Naruto Bridge had three gates: the Kakashi Gate at the mainland end, the Sakura Gate in the middle, and the Sasuke Gate at the Wave Country end. They were more arches than gates, really, but each one had a chakra-infused steel barrier that could be drawn across it at a moment's notice to prevent people entering or exiting the island nation.

"Kids hang paper lanterns off the bridge every year during Bridge Festival." Tazuna explained as they crossed the bridge, "The colour you hang represents the person you most want to grow up to be like. Orange for loyal Naruto, pink for kind-hearted Sakura, red for driven Sasuke, and white for laid-back Kakashi. It's only a week away, actually." He thought for a moment. "Dunno why they hang lanterns, in all honesty. They just do. Always have for as long as we've had Bridge Festival."

"We'll be here for that." Kakashi assured the three preteens, two of whom looked distinctly eager to hang lanterns, "We're here for a fortnight, after all."

As they left the bridge, they walked over to a nearby lake for break and a snack.

"Everyone," Kakashi said casually, "duck."

A giant sword came flashing through where their heads had been seconds earlier, scaring the wits out of the genin and Tazuna.

"You got lucky." someone said, appearing out of the nearby trees, "You won't get lucky again."

Kakashi would never show it, but sweat dripped down the back of his neck at the sight of the Demon of Kirigakure.

"So, we finally meet." Zabuza taunted Kakashi, "You're babysitting, I see. You got a couple of choice ones, too. The Hokage's brat and an Uchiha. Worth a bit, those two."

"Taken to bounty hunting, Zabuza?" Kakashi enquired calmly, pushing his forehead protector up off his face.

"Only when they come my way." Zabuza replied.

"Who's he?" Naruto asked.

"I'll tell you later." Kakashi replied, "Right now, though, you have to protect Tazuna-san."

Zabuza grinned demonically behind his mask, eyeing Sasuke.

"Uchiha's so scared he's shaking in his sandals." he chuckled.

Indeed, Sasuke was trembling, but he knew what he had to do.

"I'm not scared." Sasuke insisted, "I'm excited."

**Keep telling yourself that, Uchiha.** Kyuubi snorted.

Naruto knew how to read Sasuke, and knew that Sasuke was a _little_ bit scared, but also very excited about this unknown opponent.

As mist rolled in around them, the three genin and Tazuna began to worry.

Zabuza's voice began to echo around them.

"Eight choices." he hissed, "Liver, lungs, spine, clavicle vein, neck vein, brain, kidneys, heart. Which one should I go after?"

Tazuna was close to panicking, Sakura was getting scared, Sasuke was sweating and Naruto was nervous despite Kyuubi telling him he'd get out of this alive.

"Don't worry." Kakashi assured them, "I'll protect you guys even if it kills me." He turned and smiled at them. "I don't let my comrades die."

"Oh?" Zabuza asked, appearing right near the genin and Tazuna, "I beg to differ."

Kakashi moved quickly, stabbing what the others assumed to be Zabuza.

Water trickled from the Mizu Bushin, and then it collapsed.

"Kakashi-nii-san!" Naruto yelled when he heard something in the mist, "Behind you!"

Unable to tell if what Naruto had heard was Zabuza, a thrown weapon or something unrelated to the battle, Kakashi whirled around. He was too late, and the genin and Tazuna had to watch in horror as he was sliced in two, water gushing from the…

Zabuza was stunned at the Mizu Bushin he had just sliced to bits.

He felt a cold, sharp object at his throat and realised he'd been tricked.

"Don't move," Kakashi said, "if you like your head attached to your body."

"Heh. It's not that easy to trap me, Copycat." Zabuza replied from behind Kakashi.

The Mizu Bushin collapsed, and suddenly things began to go really pear-shaped.

Kakashi got away from Zabuza and dived into the lake, only to get trapped in a Suiro no Jutsu.

Naruto, stunned by how easily his Kakashi-nii-san was trapped by the unknown foreign ninja, took a kick to the chin and lost his forehead protector.

**Forget about it, kid.** Kyuubi urged. **You can pick it up later.**

Naruto, however, lost all sight of reason and dove in to get it back. He swiftly tied it back in place on his forehead and readied for another attack.

"Naruto! Don't play hero!" Kakashi yelled, "Mizu Bushin can't go far from the original and he can't let go of this Suiro or it doesn't stay together, so you three take Tazuna and go!"

"Kakashi," Sasuke said bluntly, "any chance of us running away vanished when you got caught."

Sasuke dived in to attack the Mizu Bushin, only to get pounded.

Naruto's mind began to whirl. Contrary to popular belief, he wasn't a fool. Anyone who could pull of his pranks and get away with it, usually without getting caught in the act, had to be a tactical mastermind of some sort. Nara Shikaku had said on several occasions that Naruto was a "battle tactician", suited to on-the-spot decisions and unexpected changes, rather than a "war tactician", who could plan lengthy campaigns to the finest detail to prevent any of the unexpected changes a battle tactician had to deal with.

Would Kage Bushin or Taijuu Kage Bushin work? No, the guy was jonin-level at least. This would require something a little different…

Naruto's mind work at lightning speed, and he could only hope that Sasuke caught on to his plan.

**Here we go again.**

Zabuza's Mizu Bushin was suddenly covered by orange-clad genin, and wasted no time in sending the Kage Bushin flying.

A hundred or so smoky pops later, and Naruto threw something to Sasuke, who had escaped from Zabuza in the Bushin confusion.

One didn't get to be rookie of the year on rote learning of facts, and Sasuke knew that Naruto had something planned.

Kakashi got a rather strange sense of déjà vu when he saw the fuma shuriken that Sasuke was holding. Something told him that the battle ended here.

Sasuke tossed the fuma shuriken, bypassing the Mizu Bushin and aiming for the real Zabuza.

Predictably, Zabuza caught the oversized throwing star and began to mock the Uchiha, only to see a second fuma shuriken coming right at him.

The missing-nin had two options: jump over it or release the Suiro and catch it. He chose to jump.

"Takes more than that to hit me, kid." Zabuza taunted, "You're just playing ninja. You'll only be a real ninja when you're worthy of being in my Bingo Book. If you ever get to that stage."

"Oh yeah?" Naruto taunted from behind Zabuza, "Then dodge this!"

Zabuza turned and saw the kunai come flying towards him, dangerously close to his head and neck unless he moved dramatically.

His hand left the Suiro to dodge the projectile, and he rounded on Naruto.

"You'll fetch a bigger bounty alive, but you're too annoying to keep that way." he growled.

Sakura was still trying to process how Naruto had gotten behind Zabuza to throw that kunai, but watched in horror as Zabuza turned the fuma shuriken he still held on the hyperactive blonde.

She expected to hear the blades cut through her team mate, but instead heard the sound of the metal meeting metal.

Kakashi, dripping wet and now bleeding from his hand, had blocked the fuma shuriken with the metal plate on the back of his glove.

Zabuza lost interest in Naruto, who was now treading water, and turned back to face Kakashi on the water's surface.

**Kid, get out of the water **_**now**_**!** Kyuubi yelled.

Naruto did so, and raced back to his team while a battle of jutsu and psychological warfare was fought on the lake.

When finally Kakashi had Zabuza outmatched, a pair of senbon flew at the missing-nin where he lay by a tree and pierced him straight through the neck.

"Is he dead?" Sakura asked weakly.

"Hunter-nins don't miss easily." Sasuke replied, thinking of what he'd been told by Obito some years ago, "If a Hunter-nin wants you dead, you're dead."

"I do apologise for any damage you received in the battle." the Hunter-nin said smoothly, "If you don't mind, I'll take his corpse away and dispose of it elsewhere. I'm sure you understand."

Kakashi, having made sure there was no pulse on Zabuza's neck, nodded and let the Hunter-nin take the body away. Even so, he couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong with the picture, that maybe Zabuza wasn't dead.

As they left the scene, Kakashi ruffled Naruto's hair and said, "Good work, Naruto."

"What did the kid do? How'd he get behind that guy?" Tazuna asked, confused.

"The mass of Kage Bushin was a distraction rather than a true attempt to harm the Mizu Bushin." Sasuke replied.

"Naruto learned from an old teacher how to transform into inanimate objects, a hard task for any young ninja." Kakashi added, "However, a fuma shuriken was risky business. Why that?"

"Sasuke mentioned his new fuma shuriken before we left Konoha." Naruto replied, "I saw Mikoto-sama put it in his bag when we were leaving Konoha."

"I didn't intend to bring an unwieldy weapon on a C-rank mission, but Okaa-san insisted I bring it." Sasuke explained with a shrug.

"Oh! That was a variant of the Shadow Shuriken trick we heard about at the Ninja Academy." Sakura exclaimed, "You throw a second shuriken just after the first and they're likely to miss the second one until it's too late to do anything about it."

"Theoretically, but most chunin and almost all jonin can react fast enough to avoid the second shuriken." Kakashi admitted. He turned to Naruto and added, "You were relying on that, weren't you Naruto?"

"Yep." Naruto replied proudly, "I figured he'd dodge it somehow, and I had my weapons just in case I needed to attack again. The face was the best place for me to aim to make him dodge the way I wanted."

"So the kid ain't an idiot." Tazuna mumbled.

"He's been called a battle tactician on more than one occasion." Kakashi replied, "In a war, I'd rather have him as my unit commander than as a tactician standing off the battlefield making plans."

That was high praise from Kakashi, and Naruto stood taller as they walked into the town that was Wave Country.

* * *

So the magnetic tag thing was a bit of a copout, but I never liked that fight anyway. Easier to just ignore it than try rewrite it.

Suiro is the Water Prison that Zabuza uses in canon

Reviews appreciated, but not required. If you do decide to review, please tell me where I can improve as well as where I'm going ok. Thanks


	17. Chapter 16

It took a while...but I made it eventually! It's fairly long, too.

I don't own Naruto. I can't draw to save my life.

A quick guide to speech/thoughts:

**Blah. **Kyuubi talking to Naruto/thinking

"Blah." People talking

'Blah.' People thinking/Naruto talking to Kyuubi

_(Blah)_ Intext author notes, rare but do occur. Usually translations of jutsu or words that need to be understood in context.

* * *

(Written on an old paper lantern reputed to have belonged to Inari, co-founder of the Uzumaki Philosophy)

One person can fight a man.

Two people can fight a band of thugs.

Three people can fight a gang.

Four people can fight an army.

(End text)

--ooo--

Wave Country was almost in ruins. Everywhere there were people on the brink of starvation and shops closed for lack of supplies within.

However, people didn't stand alone despite the lack of goods and the trouble they were in. They stood in groups, helping each other with what they had.

"This is what we've been reduced to." Tazuna said, "A shadow of the community Uzumaki would've been proud of."

"So long as we live by the Uzumaki Philosophy, we'll pull through." someone said, walking past them."

"The Uzumaki Philosophy?" Kakashi asked, "I'm sure I've heard of that. Ah! Obito lives by it. My Otou-san did too."

The Uzumaki Philosophy was a creed which many people, ninja and non-ninja, lived by. It stressed unity as well as individuality, saying that everyone had a role to play in a group and that no one should be left out of the group. Ninjas who didn't live by the Uzumaki Philosophy often scoffed at those who did, until they were placed on a team with one. If a team had an Uzumaki Philosophy ninja on it, everyone was more likely to come back alive because the creed stressed that everyone came back or no one came back. While not a religion, it was frequently likened to one because of how entrenched it became in a person's life.

"Loyalty to oneself, one's group, one's home, one's family and one's country." Tazuna said, "It was based on the life of Uzumaki Naruto and his beliefs."

"He really was important to Wave Country, huh?" Sakura commented.

"It's not widely spoken of, but you'll find followers of the Uzumaki Philosophy in most ninja villages and countries like Wave Country and Spring Country." Kakashi explained. He turned to Tazuna and added, "It would be best if we went to your place for now. I'm not convinced about how safe you are out here."

--ooo--

"Otou-sama, you're home." Tsunami said, "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine, Tsunami." Tazuna assured her, "Thanks to these guys, anyway."

Kakashi nodded, suddenly light-headed.

**Make him sit down.** Kyuubi urged Naruto, who swiftly pulled a chair over for his sensei/nii-san.

"Thanks, Naruto." Kakashi said, "Looks like I overdid it a bit."

"What's wrong?" Tsunami asked worriedly.

"I overexerted myself. I'll be ok." Kakashi assured her, "I'll just rest overnight and I'll be good for tomorrow. Just because Zabuza's gone doesn't mean Gato won't send others at Tazuna-san and the other candidates."

"So who was that guy?" Sakura asked, "Zabuza, you called him."

"He was a missing-nin from Kirigakure." Kakashi explained, "Some years ago he was part of a group known as the Seven Swordsmen of Kirigakure. His specialty was Silent Killing. After a failed coup in Kirigakure, he fled and has been known to ally himself with whoever pays the most since then. Konoha intelligence says that he has an accomplice these days, not much older than you, who specialises in …" he trailed off, realising something.

**He's figured it.**

'Figured what?'

"Zabuza might not be dead." Kakashi said suddenly, "Sasuke, what has Obito taught you about Hunter-nin?"

"If they want you dead, then you're dead." Sasuke replied, repeating what he'd told Sakura earlier.

"Did he tell you how foreign Hunter-nins dispose of bodies?" Kakashi prompted.

"At the site, unless there is something important about the body itself which requires it be disposed of elsewhere or using secret jutsu." Sasuke recited.

"Exactly." Kakashi said, "Do you remember anything about the Hunter-nin we saw?"

"They were small." Sakura said, "Not much taller than Sasuke-kun."

"Kinda skinny." Naruto added, "Couldn't tell if they were a girl or a guy."

**Guy.**

'Shut up, you.'

"They put needles through Zabuza's neck." Tazuna cut in, "I remember that much. Pretty accurate throw, too, if they hit the carotid or something."

"Except there was little or no blood from the wound." Kakashi replied, "If the Hunter-nin had hit the carotid artery, there would've been blood."

"So he went for a nerve?" Sakura asked, "Less blood for us to take back as a sample for our medic-nins to analyse."

"Naruto, do you know what a Hunter-nin in Konoha's main objective is?" Kakashi asked, "I know it's not well publicised, but do you know it?"

"Capture before kill." Naruto replied immediately. His father had taught him that.

"Right. Rokudaime redefined the directives of a Hunter-nin so that their first order is to bring the missing-nin target back alive to face trial if at all possible." Kakashi confirmed, "Often, that's the best method of dealing with missing-nins."

"So what does that mean for us?" Tsunami asked.

"Hunter-nins can just as easily paralyse as kill." Kakashi replied, "If that Hunter-nin was actually Zabuza's accomplice in disguise, then Zabuza is still alive."

--ooo--

(Directives of Kirigakure Hunter-nins)

1. Missing-nins are to be killed on sight

2. The body of any missing-nin is to be disposed of at the scene and the head brought back to Kirigakure for identification/confirmation of death

3. Dispose of the body any way possible unless a method of disposal is specified

4. If enemy ninjas are present, use only non-jutsu methods of disposal or move the body away from the scene and dispose of it elsewhere

(End text)

--ooo--

(Directives of Konoha Hunter-nins as amended by Hatake Kakashi, Rokudaime Hokage)

1. Missing-nins are to be retrieved alive if at all possible

2. Killing a missing-nin is only advisable if there is no other option or the missing-nin has a 'kill on sight' directive from the Hokage

3. Missing-nin bodies are to be brought back to Konoha sealed in scrolls if the missing-nin has been killed/killed themselves before returning to Konoha

4. A missing-nin's body can be disposed of at the scene of death if there is an 'immediate disposal' order from the Hokage or the body is in a place where use of a seal is impractical/impossible/dangerous to the Hunter-nin

5. If a missing-nin's body is to be disposed of at the scene of death, the preferable method is Haini no Jutsu _(Cremation technique)_ unless otherwise specified

6. If Haini no Jutsu is impractical/impossible/dangerous then the body must be cast into deep water with weights on, fast rapids, into the path/immediate vicinity/home of carrion eaters such as wolves or vultures, or into a ravine and then covered by rocks, so that it is irretrievable/unusable/unrecognisable and all belongings which identify the dead missing-nin as being from Konoha are to be brought back to Konoha, i.e.: forehead protectors and distinctive weaponry or equipment

6a. Kikai are not to be used as a disposal method under any circumstances

7. If a missing-nin has a 'do not approach alone' order, then do not attempt to retrieve unless accompanied by other Hunter-nins and/or ANBU

(End text)

--ooo--

Zabuza lay on the bed felling lousy. This was the sixth time Haku had needed to use that trick on him, and yet he still felt really horrible when he could barely move.

"Zabuza-sama, do not worry. You will be able to move again soon." Haku assured him, bringing in a bowl of soup and a spoon.

Zabuza didn't like being fed like a baby, but he had no other option right now. His options were be fed by his accomplice Haku or starve.

Gato came into the room then and said, "How far the mighty have fallen. Look at you, all tucked up and being fed like a baby. I pay you to take out an old man and that girl of yours has to save you from dying."

"Haku's a boy," Zabuza replied, "and Hatake Kakashi is not an easy ninja to fight and defeat."

"Hatake Kakashi?" Gato scoffed, "Another of your Bingo Book ninjas?"

"Hatake Kakashi is the descendant of the Rokudaime Hokage, student of the Juuyondaime Hokage, war veteran, Sharingan user despite no blood link to the Uchiha Clan, inheritor of his ancestor's title of Copy-nin, and prodigy." Zabuza intoned, "I'll take him out next time, now that I know his skills better."

--ooo--

"Ok boys and girl," Kakashi said cheerfully, "we've got a little while to train, so we'll train. Or, at least, you will."

'Please not tree climbing, please not tree climbing.' Naruto intoned wordlessly.

**With your luck, he'll say it's tree climbing.** Kyuubi teased.

"We'll be making leaves float." Kakashi said.

**Or maybe not.**

"Eh?" Sakura asked.

Even Sasuke was confused.

"It's a chakra control exercise," Kakashi explained, "and I know that some of you," he looked at Naruto, "have very poor chakra control."

'Damn you, Kyuubi.'

**Love you too, kid.**

"So how do we do it?" Sasuke prompted.

Kakashi picked up a leaf that was on the ground and held it on his open palm before making it float about five centimetres above his hand.

Needless to say, the three not-quite-thirteen year olds were impressed.

"You need to send a constant stream of chakra from your hand under the leaf and hold it there. Too much chakra and the leaf will blow apart. Not enough, and the leaf won't move." Kakashi explained.

They tried it, with interesting results. Sakura was too cautious with her chakra and the leaf didn't move, Sasuke's chakra flow was erratic and the leaf kept going up and down like a yoyo as he tried to maintain the chakra stream, and Naruto used too much and blew the leaf apart.

Within half an hour, Sakura had the trick down, but the boys were making little to no apparent progress.

"Sasuke, if you continue to get frustrated then you'll only have more trouble." Kakashi said, "Naruto, try to minimise how much chakra you expel."

"I _am_ trying." Naruto growled.

Sixteen leaves later, Naruto decided to ask Sakura for advice. She was doing the best at this, after all.

"Hey, Sakura-chan." he said, "I need help."

**We know that, kid, but she's not a shrink.**

"What's wrong?" Sakura asked, turning to Naruto.

"I can't make the leaf not blow up." Naruto admitted.

Sakura sighed, and offered to help him.

Sasuke decided, for once, to swallow his pride and ask for help too.

Kakashi watched the two boys listen to Sakura, and saw them both progress considerably.

He walked away, comfortable in the knowledge that his team was working _as_ a team.

--ooo--

Kakashi, Sakura and Sasuke sat at the breakfast table, eating what Tsunami had cooked for them, when Tazuna's grandson asked why they bothered to come.

"It's not like anyone can beat Gato's lackeys." the boy, Inari, scoffed.

No one knew how to answer him.

"We'll do our best."

Naruto stood in the doorway that separated the kitchen from the rest of the house.

"My little sister has a pretty simple view of what makes someone a hero." Naruto said, "She says that a hero is someone who does what is right, even if it means they go against popular opinion. That's the sort of person I want to be."

Inari's eyes went wide, remembering his stepfather, before bolting from the room.

"It was my husband, Inari's stepfather, who was killed." Tsunami explained softly, "He truly lived by the Uzumaki Philosophy."

"Especially the Ninth Precept." Tazuna said softly, "Do what is right, not what is wanted or expected."

"Ninth Precept?" Sakura asked, turning to the old man.

"There are nine Precepts of the Uzumaki Philosophy." Tsunami explained, "It's like a set of guidelines for how we live."

Kakashi got up, breaking up the conversation before it got any further. He had a feeling that he wouldn't like where the conversation went after this.

Naruto didn't eat breakfast. He went and talked to Inari instead.

No one knew what passed between the two boys, but it certainly helped Inari.

--ooo--

(An abridged version of the Nine Precepts of the Uzumaki Philosophy)

Be true to yourself, not to what others want you to be

Stand by your allies, and do not abandon or betray them

A home is not defined by the walls, but by the people within the walls

Not every family is formed by blood, but that does not mean they are not important

Even the greatest of leaders is human, and they should be respected because of this

Do not treat anyone as being less than yourself, for help comes in many guises

Unless they prove otherwise, all people can be trusted

The past is important, but don't let it define your future

Do what is right, not what is expected

(End text)

--ooo--

Naruto lay on his back, gazing at the clouds as they floated by.

What did Shikamaru see in these, anyway? They were just fluffy white things up in the sky that sometimes looked like things. Unless they were grey and decided to dump water on everyone, of course.

"Are you alright?"

Naruto yelped and jumped, whirling to face whoever it was who had spoken.

"Oh, I'm sorry." the girl said, "I wasn't sure if you were hurt or asleep."

"Nah, just cloud watching." Naruto replied, "Onee-san, what are you doing out here? It's not exactly close to anything."

"I'm out here collecting herbs for someone." the girl replied.

"Want a hand?" Naruto asked.

Naruto and the girl gathered herbs, and just as she was leaving Naruto noticed a senbon hidden in her obi. It wasn't obvious, but Tenten had drilled inconspicuous weapon placement into him and he habitually checked for such things.

"You're a ninja, Onee-san?" he asked.

The girl froze, and Naruto knew he was right.

**Onii-san, not Onee-san.**

Naruto looked carefully, and realised that Kyuubi was right.

"You're that Hunter-nin, aren't you?"

The boy vanished, terrified.

Naruto lay back down, knowing that the Hunter-nin wouldn't be doing anything anytime soon.

--ooo--

"Zabuza-sama." Haku gasped as he bolted into the room.

Zabuza looked up from cleaning his sword.

"The blonde boy…"

"The blonde boy what?" Zabuza demanded.

"He knew it was me, even if I wasn't wearing the Hunter-nin outfit you gave me." Haku said, "I don't know how he did it."

Haku had no visible weapons, nothing to mark him as a ninja. How could that blonde brat have picked him as the Hunter-nin? Maybe he'd inherited some of his father's smarts after all.

--ooo--

"So you're pulling out." Tazuna said bluntly.

"I'm thinking about my family, here. If I go, then who'll keep an eye on my kids? My wife's dead, remember." the man replied.

"I'll keep an eye on them if anything happens." Tazuna said, "Just don't pull out."

The man left, reconsidering his decision.

"Kakashi-nii-san…" Naruto said, coming in just as the man left.

"Hmm?" Kakashi replied, continuing to read Kinmotsu Mugen.

"I think I met the Hunter-nin."

_That_ bit of information made Kakashi drop his book.

"Where?" he demanded.

Naruto explained where he'd been.

"Zabuza will know that we know who his partner is." Kakashi said, "We'll have to move carefully."

"Why not make the first move?" Sakura asked, "Isn't that the best way to stop someone? A pre-emptive strike?"

"That only works of you know where they are." Sasuke replied, "Zabuza and his lackey are well hidden."

"So we wait." Kakashi confirmed, "We'll just have to think up when and where the attacks are most likely to occur."

--ooo--

The Bridge Festival's Lantern Night came upon them almost unexpectedly.

"Have you three made lanterns yet?" Tsunami asked.

"We have to make them? I thought we would just buy them." Sakura admitted.

"The story goes that after Uzumaki Naruto's death, the children of Wave Country strung lanterns along the Great Naruto Bridge to guide his passage from this life to the next one." Tsunami explained, "They couldn't get their parents' lanterns, so they made paper lanterns to line the bridge, writing their wishes on the paper as they made them. That's why we make the lanterns for Lantern Night by hand: because we write our wishes on them when we make them. My father doesn't believe the old story, but it's nice to tell when we make the lanterns."

Inari brought paper, wire, crayons, ink and brushes to the table for them to each make their own lantern that day, with even Tazuna joining in to make a white lantern.

"I need all the relaxation I can get." he explained to Kakashi, "I figure it can't hurt to string one up."

Kakashi, also making a white lantern, understood what Tazuna meant.

"The Hatake Kakashi you speak so highly of is my ancestor." he explained, "I only wish I could be half the man he was."

"You're still young." Tazuna replied, "It is one thing to wish for something, and another to attempt to achieve it."

Inari had always made a red lantern, wanting to achieve his goals, but this year he decided to make an orange one.

"Why orange?" Sakura asked, looking up from the pink paper she was writing on.

"Just 'cause." Inari replied.

"Is it because of my Naruto?" she asked quietly.

Inari paused with his crayon hovering over the orange paper, and nodded.

"I guess he did make a point." Sakura admitted, "His motto seems to be 'live for everyone else'."

"It sounds like he lives by the Uzumaki Philosophy." Tsunami commented, writing on her pink paper in black ink.

"I don't think he even knew it existed until we came here." Sakura replied.

"That doesn't mean he didn't live by it." Tsunami replied.

"Yeah…" Sakura agreed.

Sasuke stared at the red paper he'd chosen, he looked around and then wrote what he wanted to write on it. He refused to show it to anyone.

Naruto eagerly formed his orange paper into a lantern, its message obscured by his hands as he worked.

Sakura's lantern, although small, had her delicate script on one side proclaiming her wish, but she folded the lantern flat so that no one would know what she'd written.

--ooo--

As night fell, the group wandered out to the bridge to hang their lanterns, each with a little candle inside it to illuminate the paper and words.

Inari and Tsunami returned home, while Tazuna and the ninjas remained on the bridge a little longer to watch the lanterns sway in the gentle breeze that whispered around them.

"I'm gonna go catch up to Inari and Tsunami-san." Naruto declared, "I'll see you guys back at the house." Before anyone could respond, he took off.

Kakashi shook his head, wondering where Naruto got his energy, and opened his mouth to give the order to head back to Tazuna's place.

Unfortunately, he never got beyond the parting-of-lips stage, because he felt a very familiar killer intent on the bridge.

"Protect Tazuna." he commanded the two genin, "We've got company."

A chilling mist rolled in around them, diffusing the light of the myriad of lanterns around them.

"He chose tonight to attack?" Tazuna asked, "Isn't he worried about other people?"

"Collateral damage isn't exactly an issue for him." Kakashi replied, uncovering his Sharingan, "He just lives for the kill. It's what got him in the Bingo Book."

"Says the guy who's got a death count longer than my sword to his name." Zabuza scoffed from somewhere within the mist, "Of course, being ANBU does tend to up your kill count."

Kakashi narrowed his eye and tried to find the source of Zabuza's voice and hence find Zabuza.

"After I take down the old man, I'll go after your little blonde brat." Zabuza taunted, "He's worth more alive than dead, you know, because he can be held for ransom alive. Dead, he's just another ninja corpse."

Kakashi knew he had to think fast, and summoned Pakkun to help him find Zabuza.

"Yep?" the little dog asked.

"There's a man in the mist." Kakashi said, "Momochi Zabuza. We met him once. Can you find him?"

"The guy with the oversized meat cleaver?" Pakkun replied, "He's behind you."

Kakashi rolled forward, narrowly missing losing his head as the sword slashed past where he'd been.

"Thanks for the warning." he grumbled.

Man and dog hung back, unwilling to attack in the mist, as Sakura and Sasuke tried to locate the false Hunter-nin _and_ protect Tazuna.

"Sakura, stay with Tazuna." Sasuke said, "I'll go find Zabuza's lackey."

"Mm." Sakura replied in confirmation, keeping her attention wide to be ready for anything.

Sasuke stepped warily into the mist, quickly losing sight of his pink-haired team mate and their charge.

"So you're the Uchiha." someone said from in the mist, "Where is the Hokage's son?"

"Not here." Sasuke replied.

"A pity." his opponent said, appearing out of the mist, "I was hoping to fight you both."

Sasuke felt the mist fall away from around him to leave a cleared bubble where he and the Hunter-nin stood.

"I prefer to know who I am fighting at times like this." the Hunter-nin said, "I am Haku."

"Sasuke." Sasuke replied, "At least now I know what to carve on your headstone when I kill you."

"My, my, you are confident." Haku mused, "Maybe too confident. I've been a ninja longer than you, after all."

"Keh." Sasuke mocked, "I've trained under the finest in Konoha since I was old enough to walk."

That was true. Sasuke, Naruto and their friends had trained under Kakashi, Obito, Rin, Gai, Minato, Kushina and the other parents since they were big enough to properly throw a punch or understand what chakra was. Fai had been intent on teaching them proper weapon use long before it was taught at the Academy, to the horror of Iruka when he found out that his first solo class contained eight children who already knew how to use weapons that weren't blunted and were fully proficient in taijutsu beyond the basic style taught at the Ninja Academy. Although not as bold as he had become about his class, he confronted the Hokage and asked very politely why The Ten had been taught to use live weapons from the start. Minato had merely replied that the children's taijutsu teachers and weapon teacher hadn't wanted the children to become careless with their weapons and blows, so they'd trained them from the start to have respect for their weapons and not to pull their punches.

But that was long ago, Sasuke decided as he brought his concentration back to current events, and his opponent was more important than his teachers right now.

Well aware of how easily this false Hunter could strike to kill, Sasuke decided not to give him that chance and dived in recklessly with a kunai in his hand.

In the hazy, diffuse light, Haku was hard to distinguish from the mist behind him. Sasuke knew he would be in trouble if-

Haku lunged in to block Sasuke's reckless charge, tying up the Uchiha's right hand quite effectively.

Sasuke pulled away, his gut telling him not to let Haku block his hands, and almost slipped in a puddle of water that had somehow formed behind him.

Chains of water formed from the puddle and tied Sasuke's left ankle to the puddle, startling him.

"I am one of a scattered many." Haku said, "Water and ice are mine to command."

Sasuke had no clue what Haku was talking about. Then he remembered a book his brother had so jealously guarded even before he became obsessed with the clan's history: _Pride and Pariahs: Kekkei Genkai across the ages_. There was a chapter called Ice Masters, dealing with a Kekkei Genkai known as…

"Hyoton."

Haku nodded, and dashed in to attack the immobilised younger boy.

Sasuke thought fast, and tried to divert Haku's attack with a jutsu. Unfortunately for him, Haku was in front of him before he could finish his hand seals.

Forced to block the attacking hand again, Sasuke was once more limited to one hand.

Unable to back away, Sasuke watched in horror as Haku used one hand to form modified seals for an unknown technique.

--ooo--

Naruto hustled Inari and Tsunami inside, keeping an eye out for any more attackers in the night.

They'd been attacked not far from the bridge by two thugs who Gato had hired, and who had blabbered something about killing Zabuza once he'd dealt with the ninjas and Tazuna after they'd been caught and strung up by their ankles from a nearby tree.

"Stay inside." Naruto told Inari and Tsunami, "I'll go save the old man and my team."

"You can't do that alone." Tsunami protested, "I can go round up some of the men and then you and they can go help my Otou-sama."

"It'll take too long." Naruto replied, "It's late. They'll mostly be in bed now after hanging the lanterns out with their kids. Don't wake them. I'll go now." he pulled a steel kunai from his kunai holster and handed it to Inari. "If anyone tries to get in, stick 'em with this."

**Is that smart?** Kyuubi asked. **He's not a ninja, after all.**

'His stepfather was a fisherman. Don't tell me he doesn't know how to stab a fish and gut it.' Naruto replied.

Inari clutched the kunai tight, starting to blubber, and nodded.

Naruto left the house and returned to the bridge in time to see the mist lift briefly and Sasuke turn into a human pincushion.

"Naruto!" Kakashi yelled when he saw the boy, "Get Sasuke, Sakura and Tazuna and get out of here!"

"Oi, you with the big-ass sword!" Naruto yelled, "D'ya know Gato wants you dead? A couple of his lackeys sang like pretty birds when I had 'em tied up."

**Real mature, kid.**

Zabuza ignored him, so Naruto ran to help Sasuke with the Hunter-nin just as the mist closed in again.

"Naruto," Sasuke said, "Haku can make seals with one hand."

"That's pretty advanced stuff." Naruto said, "So the guy's name is Haku, huh? Well, least we know what to tell the nurses when we bring him into the hospital."

"You live by the Konoha Hunter-nin motto, don't you?" Sasuke retorted, "Capture before kill."

"Nah." Naruto replied, "I promised Fuu I'd bring her something from Wave Country. I meant to get her a new set of kunai, but I think this Haku would make a better gift, right?"

Sasuke wasn't impressed by the joke, but got the underlying meaning: this boy is better off alive in Konoha than dead here.

"Is Fuu a friend of yours?" Haku enquired.

"She's my imotou." Naruto replied, "What's it to you?"

"Nothing. I was just curious." Haku replied, "Now, I believe you interrupted our battle."

"Well, add me to it." Naruto declared, "I'm not leaving until you're beaten."

"Then you will be here a while." Haku intoned, "In fact, I believe you just signed your death warrant."

As Haku spoke, a dozen or so mirrors formed from the water that had condensed on the bridge and created a dome over the two boys.

They watched in morbid fascination as Haku entered one of the mirrors, and seemed to appear in all of them.

"Damn. Where _is_ he?" Naruto growled.

"Keep your guard up." Sasuke replied, "We don't know where he-" He was cut off a dozen senbon that were thrown from one of the mirrors. Having to dodge needles would do that.

Naruto lunged at the mirror, but found that Haku threw senbon from elsewhere and he had to dodge.

"He's swapping mirrors." Sasuke said, "We can't expect the senbon to always come from the same place."

"How does he do that?" Naruto bawled.

Haku bolted from one mirror to another then, and the boys caught little more than a blur.

As the senbon rain continued, the boys struggled to avoid the flying needles.

Naruto and Sasuke stood back to back, deflecting the needles they could and taking the ones they couldn't.

It was harder than one would first expect to deflect the needles, because not only were they unsure where the needles would come from next but they were also fighting in the fractured, ghostly half-light of the lanterns and mirrors.

The blur that was all that accompanied Haku's transition from one ice mirror to another was what they needed to track, but neither one could see anything more than an afterimage.

Naruto was getting frustrated, patience wasn't his strong point after all, and missed the needles that were flying at him from behind.

Sasuke caught a flash of silver out the corner of his eye, and dashed behind Naruto to take the senbon in his arm.

"Sa-Sa-Sasuke?" Naruto stammered.

"Don't let your emotions cloud your judgement and awareness." Sasuke said, turning his head towards Naruto, "I won't always be there to cover your back."

Sasuke's arm was now numb, but he saw clearly where Haku dodged to after the senbon were thrown and caught in his flesh.

"Naruto, right in front of you." the Uchiha said, "He's in the mirror right in front of you. Smash it."

Naruto tried to do so, but the mirror didn't even move when he struck it. Haku, however, fled from that mirror to another one.

"Three to the left."

Again, Haku was forced to flee before throwing any senbon. How was Sasuke tracking his moves?

Knowing that Sasuke was the more dangerous of the two boys, Haku quietly created ice needles behind the Uchiha and threw them remotely at Sasuke's neck, catching the boy as he opened his mouth to tell Naruto where to attack next.

"Sasuke!" Naruto yelled as the boy dropped.

The world was going in and out of focus for Sasuke.

"-ay awake."

'Naruto, are you ok?'

"Sasu-"

'What's going on? We were doing fine, and then…'

"-nii-san!"

'The boy…He threw something…'

"-alk to me!"

'Naruto…Why do you sound so far away?'

As Sasuke's eyes shut, Naruto was sure his best friend was dead.

**Kid! Don't lose it! This isn't the time or the place! Kid!**

The world began to go red in front of Naruto's eyes.

Sasuke was gone.

Haku had killed him.

Kakashi, fighting Zabuza with the aid of his dogs, felt the demonic chakra spike around where his boys were fighting the false Hunter-nin.

"Dear Kami…" he whispered, "Naruto!"

Zabuza felt the spike too, and could only think of one thing: Haku.

"Damn. What are you _feeding_ those brats?" he growled at Kakashi.

Kakashi ignored him and pulled out a simple seal, one that would hold for long enough for Naruto to calm down and regain control.

Sakura felt Naruto's chakra swell with some strange power, and even Tazuna could feel something oppressive swamping the misty bridge.

They converged on the boys just in time to see Naruto strike the mirror Haku was in and knock the older boy flying.

Zabuza, in an unprecedented display of affection for the boy he claimed was a living weapon, knelt down beside the now unconscious boy and checked for a pulse.

"He'll live." Naruto said, wiping away some sweat, "I don't hit to kill unless there's no other choice."

How had Naruto maintained enough control to keep his blows non-lethal? Even Kyuubi was confused, because he was sure Haku would die from the punch Naruto was packing.

Ignoring the wounds he'd received battling Kakashi, Zabuza picked Haku up and went to leave, promising them he would leave Wave Country for good now.

"Oh my," someone said from behind them, "you look a little worse for wear, Zabuza. And your little girl needs medical aid, I suspect. Such a pity you failed your task."

Gato and a myriad of lackeys stood on the bridge, each lackey armed to the teeth with whatever he could get his hands on.

"Whoever kills Zabuza gets a bonus," Gato declared, "but his assistant is to be taken alive." He grinned. "Boy or girl; that one will be fun to play with."

One thing several dead men had found out was that you could insult Zabuza as much as you wanted and he wouldn't flinch, but even imply anything about his relationship with Haku or insult Haku and your life was forfeit.

Putting Haku down again, Zabuza paid no attention to his own wounds and lunged.

Gato never stood a chance.

* * *

I can honestly say, now, that I am no good with battle scenes. Anywho...I make no excuses for how long it took.

Does anyone want to know what they wrote on their lanterns?


	18. Chapter 17

Three problems with putting this chapter up: my internet's been funny for the last week and a half, I've just had an exam which I really needed to study for, and I have another exam on Saturday which I also really need to study for. Wish me luck!

Don't own Naruto, never will

BTW: I think you can guess who wrote which lantern.

* * *

(Written on an orange lantern)

Help me protect my precious people

(End text)

--ooo--

(Written on a red lantern)

Give me the power to protect my friends and family

(End text)

--ooo--

(Written on a pink lantern)

Let me be strong enough to protect the people who mean the most to me

(End text)

--ooo--

(Written on a white lantern)

I want to be a man who can protect the people who are important

(End text)

--ooo--

Haku woke to sunlight shining in his eyes.

"Hey, you're awake!" Sakura said, appearing by Haku's bed as he squinted against the bright light, "Let me shut the curtains…"

The bright light was muted a bit, but it still wasn't enough for Haku's poor eyes so he shut them again.

"How…" he mumbled.

"How come you're still alive?" Sakura offered, "Naruto doesn't strike to kill unless he has no other option."

"The other boy? Did he survive?"

"Sasuke-kun? He'll be fine. He woke up after Zabuza-san took out Gato."

Haku opened his eyes again in shock. Zabuza killed Gato?

"Gato implied what he would like to do to you, and then Zabuza lost it, I think." Sakura explained, unaware of Haku's shock, "He really did a number on his wounds."

"Is he alive?" Haku asked desperately. If Zabuza was dead…

"They've got him in the local hospital, doing their best to save him." Sakura explained, "He's stable for now, but they don't know if they can fully repair the damage. He was hurt pretty bad by Kakashi-sensei, and then did further damage by rushing Gato."

Haku struggled to get up, wishing to see his master.

"Stay down." Kakashi said from the doorway, "Your wounds might not be fatal, but moving too much might reopen them. You lost a fair bit of blood, kid."

Haku knew, then, that he was little better than a prisoner.

"Tell you what," Kakashi said genially, "how about I carry you to see Zabuza? Can your pride handle it?"

Haku would put up with anything if it meant seeing Zabuza.

--ooo--

Naruto left the room when Kakashi and Haku came in, and Haku looked at Zabuza questioningly.

"Let him go." Zabuza said.

"What were you talking about with Naruto-san?" Haku asked as Kakashi set him in a chair by Zabuza's bed.

"It's between me and him." Zabuza replied.

Kakashi made some flimsy excuse, and left the two to talk.

"Haku, do you remember what I told you before we came here?" Zabuza asked.

"You were drunk." Haku replied firmly, "People say strange things when drunk."

"Do you remember what I said?" Zabuza urged.

Haku nodded.

"I told you that wherever you go, I'll follow." Zabuza said, "Just like you'd follow me anywhere."

"You'll never have to do that," Haku said, "because it will always be you leading."

"Before I met you, I dreamed of a fight on an unfinished bridge against Hatake Kakashi." Zabuza said, showing gentleness that he showed no one but Haku, "I saw a boy there, one who looked just like you do now. He was fighting from inside mirrors just like you do, fighting against a boy who had black hair. A blonde boy arrived, and the battle ended up turned against the boy in the mirrors. The boy who looked like you stepped between me and Hatake Kakashi, taking a blow to the chest that killed him. I dreamed my own death, and I died beside that boy, injured too badly to save. I wondered about the dream, but I think I know what it meant." He stared into Haku's eyes. "Haku, go with the Konoha-nins. Talk to the blonde's sister. I'll bet my sword that she knows something about what's going on."

Haku spluttered out a protest. No way was he leaving Zabuza's side!

"Haku, when I'm well enough to travel I'll follow you." Zabuza said, "I gave my word to you that I'd follow you just like you follow me. I'll meet you in Konoha."

Knowing when he was given an order, Haku nodded and left with Sakura, who had just arrived as if summoned, to collect what little he had left at their hiding place. If his wounds reopened, then that was his own fault.

"You didn't tell him about the operation." Kakashi said once the boy was gone.

"What's it to you, Hatake?" Zabuza growled.

Kakashi sat down next to the wounded missing-nin and said, "You mentioned a dream. What else did you dream?"

"What's it to you?" Zabuza mumbled.

"I want to know that I'm not the only sane one who thinks something's up." Kakashi replied, "Ever since I almost lost my team mate, I've felt like something was wrong and yet at the same time right."

"You felt it too, huh?" Zabuza asked, "When I met Haku, it was like I'd seen him before. I had this feeling that I could do better this time, but I don't know why I felt like that. I had this urge to hold him, to protect him, to keep him from harm, and to be the only one in his life. I wanted him to be mine."

"You wanted him to love you?" Kakashi asked, stunned.

"Not that way, Hatake. I wanted to be like family to him. I wanted to be the brother he never had, the father he _should've_ had. I don't know why."

"I felt that way once." Kakashi admitted, "When I first saw Naruto at the hospital after he was born. I wanted to hold him, to protect him, to be there for him forever. I didn't want him to be alone, but he was never alone. I felt like I had a second chance, but I don't know what the first chance was or why I messed it up."

"Listen to us." Zabuza scoffed, "Talking like old ladies reminiscing about the past."

"Maybe so," Kakashi replied, "but we both know something is going on. Maybe between us we can figure out what it is."

--ooo--

(Excerpt from _A History of Ninja_)

From Chapter 1: Define "Ninja"

Ask a layperson what a ninja is and they will invariably give you a response to the effect of a person who uses the tricks associated with ninjas.

In truth, this is not really the actual definition of a ninja.

The words ninja and shinobi are often used interchangeably in ninja society and academic circles, because they are identical in effective meaning.

If one was to ask a ninja what a ninja is, they will give you the definition they were taught: A ninja is someone who was trained in a ninja village and who has the rank of genin, chunin, jonin or other such official ninja ranks or formerly possessed such a rank.

In effect, this means that the so-called "rogue ninjas" hired by unscrupulous men are not all ninjas. Many are the apprentices of missing-nins, ninjas who had turned their backs on their hidden village.

(End excerpt)

--ooo--

After Kakashi left, Zabuza stared out the window and thought about what he and Naruto had talked about.

Naruto had come in with Tsunami, who told Zabuza that Haku was alive and looking to wake soon, and stayed behind when she left.

Neither one said anything for a while, but finally Zabuza asked why Naruto had pulled his punch when he thought his friend was dead.

Zabuza could still remember Naruto's response.

"Because technically Haku isn't a ninja. He deserves the chance to become one."

--ooo--

The elections were held a few days later.

Kakashi, Sakura, Sasuke and Naruto had to stand around and look pretty mostly, although they had to make sure that the votes were counted correctly in the end.

Tazuna won, although no one was entirely surprised.

"Ladies, gentlemen, kids and ninjas," he said when the result was announced, "I stand here today as the man you chose to lead you. Can't see why, but you did."

Many people chuckled.

"This election was in danger of not happening." Tazuna continued, "It happened because of six ninjas, even if two started out trying to stop it."

Haku looked away.

"We hired four ninjas to keep an eye on today so no one cheated, but we didn't tell them that the election was being undermined." Tazuna said, "Hatake Kakashi led his students here figuratively blind, because we were too scared to tell the truth. I swear I won't do that again. From now on, I will be honest in my dealings. I will put what is right before what is easier or cheaper, and I will live by the Uzumaki Philosophy in my term as leader of Wave Country."

Everyone cheered.

Tazuna held up a hand and said, "We also started out with ninjas against us. Haku and Zabuza, in their own way, showed me something important on the Great Naruto Bridge on Lantern Night: No matter what, family is family and it comes first. Well, Wave Country is my family. Everyone here is my brother, my sister, my son, my daughter, my niece, my nephew, my grandson, my granddaughter, my mother, my father or any other relative you can think of. So, I dedicate my election to the ninjas who made today possible."

The locals clapped vigorously, and the ninja and Haku had varying responses.

Kakashi showed no reaction, although he was pleased; Sasuke smirked slightly, knowing he'd done a good job; Sakura went bright red, embarrassed; Naruto grinned, used to attention because of his father; and Haku tried to sneak away before anyone saw him there.

Naruto stopped him with a hand on his arm.

"You deserve this as much as we do." he whispered, "It'll be over soon."

Naruto was right, and as soon as it _was_ over Haku had left to finish packing his things.

--ooo--

(Excerpt from _My Hokages_)

From Part 2, Chapter 7: The Whirlpool Effect

My Nii-san was well known for drawing people in and changing their attitudes.

It was referred to as the Whirlpool Effect, because once a person was "caught" by my brother there was no escaping the change.

My earliest memory of this was Haku, who came to Konoha after Nii-san's team met him in Wave Country.

(End excerpt)

--ooo--

Tazuna, Tsunami and Inari saw the group off at the Sasuke Gate. With promises to write and visit, the ninja and Haku walked over the bridge and down the road that led to Konoha.

"Hey, Haku," Naruto said as they walked, "are you ok with leaving him here?"

"Zabuza-sama will meet me in Konoha." Haku replied, tugging his bag strap higher up on his shoulder.

"If you say so." Naruto replied sceptically.

Kakashi was glad that Naruto chose, for once, to hold his wayward tongue and not talk about Zabuza. Naruto was no fool, but he tended to ask questions at the wrong times.

"How did you meet Zabuza-san?" Sakura asked, "Have you known him long?"

"My mother had the Hyoton, like I do." Haku explained, "When my father found out, he tried to get us out of Water Country, where we had our farm. Even now, Kekkei Genkai users are feared there. My parents and I made it to a small boat, but we were attacked by a mob. I don't know how they found out, but they attacked us. I was so terrified. My parents were killed before my eyes, my mother for the Hyoton and my father for protecting her. I don't know how I did it, but I unleashed my Hyoton stronger than ever. I'd played with water before, but never made ice spikes. I killed six men that day, and then I fled as far as I could. I spent three months living in the streets before I met Zabuza on a bridge." Haku smiled. "He took one look at me and said, 'You coming or do you want to die here?'"

Kakashi was impressed. Zabuza had taken one look at the boy, felt all he'd felt, and told the boy to come if he wanted to in his gruff way.

Naruto nodded, and bolted off yelling at them to hurry up so they could get home quicker.

"Haku's still injured, Naruto!" Sakura yelled back, "We'll go at a pace that suits him, not the other way around!"

"I don't mind going faster." Haku said.

"_I_ don't want to have to bandage your wounds again." Sakura shot back.

"I'll handle that." Kakashi commented, stopping and crouching down, "Haku, climb on."

Haku did so warily, but as they set off to catch up to Naruto he realised that now he had a chance to talk to Kakashi without the others knowing.

"He's really something, isn't he?" Haku asked quietly.

"Naruto?" Kakashi queried.

"Yeah."

"Always has been, always will be. Konoha's most unpredictable ninja."

"I feel like I've met him before, but I know that's impossible."

"I know someone else who said the same thing."

"You mean Zabuza-sama?"

"Yep."

"I wish I knew why it feels like I shouldn't be here." Haku admitted, burrowing his head into the back of Kakashi's neck, "I wish I knew what was going on."

"You too, huh?" Kakashi replied, "Well, that makes three of us. We'll figure it out eventually, but right now we have to get back to Konoha and get you registered as a ninja."

"You think they'll let me be a real ninja?" Haku asked.

"Naruto's Chichiue is the Hokage." Kakashi replied, "If Naruto says you're a good kid then Sensei will consider it. If Naruto's imotou, Fuu, takes a liking to you then you're in."

"Does Fuu-san hold more power than her brother with their father?"

"Nope, she just happens to have Sarutobi-sama wrapped around her little finger and he has a lot of influence, even if he is an old man. Of course, you're probably already guaranteed a place as a Konoha ninja because of what you did to Sasuke."

"I almost killed him. Why would that help me?"

"The fact that you _could've_ killed him but _didn't_ shows that you have restraint, a trait that we in Konoha mostly exercise. Some don't, but most do."

Haku began to understand, but as he opened his mouth to ask another question a yell came from up ahead.

"Kakashi-nii-san! Come see this!"

Kakashi bounded forward, mindful of his passenger, and saw that Sasuke's eyes were red.

"When did this happen?" he asked, thinking that he should've seen this already.

"When Haku threw senbon at Naruto's back, probably." Sasuke replied, "I had to move fast, but I didn't think I could make it. Then everything just slowed down and I made it in time."

"The Sharingan activates in times of life or death situations." Kakashi said, remembering when Obito gained his, "It doesn't matter if it is your own death you face or the death of someone close to you. Impressive, Sasuke. Maybe your father will work with you on some Uchiha Clan techniques now."

Sasuke looked rather pleased, although he knew this marked a totally new era in his relationships with his friends. Suddenly he wasn't _normal_ anymore. He really was an Uchiha now, and that scared him in some ways while pleasing him in others.

"You're still 'Sasuke', with or without the freaky red eyes." Naruto assured the boy, "No one's gonna tell you otherwise in our group."

"I'm telling Obito-san that you called the Sharingan 'freaky red eyes'." Sakura declared. Although only a recent official addition to the group of children, she'd been Ino's best female friend long enough to have met the peculiar Uchiha.

"What?" Naruto yelped.

**You brought it on yourself, kid.**

They headed off again, Naruto pleading with Sakura not to tell Bito-nii-san what he'd said and Kakashi chuckling at the scene playing out before him.

Haku began to figure something out about this group: they weren't a traditional ninja team.

It was almost as if the term 'team' didn't fit this one. Maybe 'second family' was a better way to describe them.

--ooo--

Minato sat back with a sigh, having heard the verbal report from Kakashi.

"I was a fool." he said.

"Sensei, you weren't to know." Kakashi replied, "I doubt even Tazuna-san knew how dangerous the situation was."

"Maybe." Minato agreed, staring out his office window.

Down below, he could see Fuu being chased by Iruka until she ran headlong into Haku. She apologised frantically, but Haku was obviously assuring her there was no harm done.

"What do you think of the boy?"

"Haku?" Kakashi asked, looking up from Kinmotsu Mugen. In all the fuss, he'd barely had time to read any of it.

Minato nodded.

"He's a good kid. He can't be more than fifteen, and he lost his parents when he was young. Zabuza was the only family he probably remembers clearly, and even then it's not quite the father-son bond one might think it would be. It's more of brothers who are far apart in age but very close otherwise."

Minato nodded again and watched Iruka drag Fuu back to class. She was waving cheerfully at Haku even while her teacher was dragging her by the ear.

"Have you set him up with anyone yet?"

"We got in and came straight to you." Kakashi replied, "Naruto said he'd set Haku up in your guestroom for now."

"That sounds right." Minato laughed, "My son, collector of strays."

Naruto had, over the years, collected quite a few stray animals at the Namikaze residence. From the little frogs he so carefully transplanted from muddy creeks to the gleaming pond and stream running through the garden to the injured wildlife he found and always _intended_ to let go again, the house had always had strays and former strays hanging around from the time Naruto could walk. Fuu had a similar habit, but she would collect baby birds that had fallen from their nests or whose parents had been taken by cats or birds of prey.

"You say that like it's a bad thing." Kakashi teased.

Minato took off the conical hat that denoted his rank and said, "Well, I'd better get home before he does. That bloody cat of his has been pining for him ever since he left, and now that he's back she'll be all over him again."

"You think you can get away from the paperwork?" Kakashi asked, eying the precarious pile of papers that stood almost as tall as he did.

Minato grinned.

--ooo--

When an ANBU came to see the Hokage an hour later, they found a straw training dummy wearing the Hokage's hat and jacket in his seat.

Pinned to its chest was a note.

GONE HOME. BACK TOMORROW.

--ooo--

(Excerpt from _The Snowstorm and The Maelstrom_)

From Chapter 5: A Cat called Trouble

If ever there was a more jealous creature, I have thankfully never met it.

When Naruto brought Haku home, Naruto's tabby cat was friendly enough towards the boy. Things took a turn for the worst, however, as Fuu got older.

The cat was obsessively possessive of her master and her master's sister to the point of hissing at Haku whenever he got too close to Fuu.

It was hardly obvious why the cat did so until Fuu turned seventeen. Haku then came clean about being sort-of-kind-of-maybe-probably in love with his saviour's little sister.

(End excerpt)

--ooo--

Naruto laughed as the tabby leapt into his arms, purring.

"I'm happy to see you too, Yuuku." Naruto laughed, stroking the cat.

"Who's trouble?" Haku asked, following Naruto into the house.

"Yuuku is the cat." Minato explained, coming up behind Haku, "Naruto saved that cat from death as a kitten, and she's been trouble ever since. Loves him to bits but won't listen to anyone else."

"That's not true." Naruto protested, turning around, "She listens to Fuu."

"I stand corrected." Minato laughed, "She loves him and his sister to bits but won't listen to me or my wife."

Yuuku eyed the newcomer warily, but eventually decided he was no threat to her relationship with her beloved master.

Fuu came bolting in then, having escaped the clutches of her favourite teacher, and said, "I knew you'd bring him here, Nii-san."

Haku stared at the girl who had run into him before. This was Naruto's imotou?

"Fuu, I brought you that present you asked for." Naruto joked, "Sorry it wouldn't fit in my bag, but I think he'd've suffocated in there. Careful, we had to rough him up a bit to make him come with us."

Fuu just smiled at Haku and said, "I'm pleased to meet you. Come on, I'll show you to the guestroom."

She took his hand, and he followed her to the guestroom.

Minato had a feeling this wouldn't be a temporary arrangement.

* * *

Yuuku does literally mean trouble, which tells you what Naruto's cat is like. I can just see him as a "Collector of strays" because he has such a big heart.

That last excerpt was a heads up for a pairing, by the way. It probably won't show up in the story, but it's useful to know the future pairing. Tell me if you think it's ok.

Zabuza might/might not reappear. It all depends on how the story flows and if he writes himself back into the plot.


	19. Chapter 18

Wow! I got another chapter up! Sorry about the wait. Exams came first, after all. Now I've got just over two weeks to put together a Tenten cosplay costume for my local anime convention, and it's driving me crazy! Ah well, these things happen.

Anywho...Just a heads up that past (canon time) Moegi and Udon get their deaths described in this chapter. Hope no one gets too upset by their end.

Not much action, but Gaara and Kankuro rear their heads and enter the story. _Very_ different Gaara from the old one, I warn you now.

Don't own Naruto, never will.

* * *

(This letter was found in the personal effects of Uchiha Sasuke when he died.)

Uchiha Sasuke,

I regret to inform you that your brother has died by his own hand.

The bearer of this message will replace you as the guard on duty so that you may attend his funeral, and the traditional six weeks of grievance leave will be allowed. Whether you take this leave or not is your own decision.

If you do not wish to attend the funeral for your brother, send the ninja back with your reason and a message, if any, you wish to be placed in your brother's coffin.

My sincerest sympathies,

Shiranui Genma

PS: Hokage-sama would've written this note, but she burst into tears and ruined the paper when she tried. Shizune refused to even try writing it.

PPS: When you get back, try and knock some sense into that pink-haired team mate of yours! She's been drinking like Hokage-sama ever since your brother died.

(End letter)

--ooo--

(Excerpt from the journal of Uchiha Yuzuki (nee Higashi), date unknown)

Sasuke is depressed again. It's that time of year, I guess.

Five years ago tomorrow, Sasuke's best friend and brother-but-not-by-blood Naruto died. I wish I had met the young man. Princess Yuki spoke very highly of the blonde, and went into profound mourning upon hearing of his death.

Sakura and the others, too, are mourning the boy/man I never met. They say I am much like him in personality, but maybe they see only what they wish to see.

What would distress such a cheerful man so much that he would kill himself? He had such loyal friends, and yet he left them behind so readily. Was there something he didn't tell them? Or is there something Sasuke has not told me about his ototou?

(End excerpt)

--ooo--

Sasuke stared at the brittle paper he discovered amongst his namesake ancestor's things.

His ancestor only had one brother, right? Itachi, who was driven mad after accidentally killing his best friend Shisui, gaining the Mangekyo Sharingan in the process, and then fled Konoha not long before the Uchiha were massacred.

Nothing else spoke of this other "brother", referred to as ototou, although he was clearly important to the ancestor's team mate Haruno Sakura and the Godaime Hokage.

Searching through the papers some more, Sasuke found a journal written by his ancestor Sasuke's wife Yuzuki, a cheerful garnet-eyed woman from Spring Country who Sasuke had brought home after his sensei because Rokudaime.

He read her comment about that day, "five years ago tomorrow" after someone died, and put together the facts: Uchiha Sasuke considered Uzumaki Naruto to be his brother, and Uzumaki Naruto's friends had mourned for him for at least five years.

Searching deeper into the records, Sasuke found the journals of Uchiha Itachi, from before the massacre, and a wad of papers in an orange envelope.

The papers were duplicates of the kind of reports sent back by ninjas on extended missions, and these ones were distinctly Uchiha-like in their execution.

Maybe they were copies of Uchiha Sasuke's training mission reports, including his report on his mission to infiltrate Oto and kill Orochimaru and the incidental "mercy killing" of his brother.

What made no sense was the note written in scruffy kanji on the front of the envelope.

MEMORISE THESE, TEME. THEY'RE YOUR "TRAINING MISSION" REPORTS.

What did that mean?

--ooo--

(Excerpt from _The Finest Leaves: Konoha's Greatest Ninjas_)

From Chapter 8: Hatake Kakashi, the Copy-Nin

When asked what he regretted the most in his life, Kakashi would say without fail that he regretted not teaching his team better before sending them into the Chunin Exam the first time.

He didn't regret sending them into the Chunin Exam, he was proud of them for making it as far as they did, but he regretted not having the foresight to teach them a few better techniques.

Hindsight, however, has twenty-twenty vision. Kakashi, better than anyone, knew that.

(End excerpt)

--ooo--

"You _do_ realise that the Chunin Exam is coming up, don't you?"

"Of course."

"Are you going to enter your team? I'm entering mine."

"You really think they're up to it?"

"They're not the little kids you used to babysit anymore, Kakashi."

"Thank Kami for small mercies."

"Funny. Obito says he listened to you moaning down at the pub on Friday about how big they've gotten and how hard it is to control even two of them plus Sakura."

"That was the alcohol talking."

"Really? I could've sworn he said you only had one or two shots before you were complaining."

"Obito's got a habit of embellishing the truth. It was closer to two flagons."

"Your alcohol tolerance aside-"

"Hey!"

"-are you or are you not entering Team Seven? I know Asuma's entering his team this year. He told me so."

"I'm thinking about it. They showed real skill on that last mission, and I think they can at least make the third round if they play their cards right."

"That would mean all ten of them would be in the exam."

"Gai's putting in his team?"

"He said he wasn't putting them in last year because they needed more experience."

"So he says."

"Asuma said the same thing."

"I still say Fuu talked him out of entering them last year."

"He and she won't admit it."

"Gai has lips tighter than the spandex he used to wear."

"It's probably a good thing Fuu made that bet with Obito, huh?"

"I still have to pay her back for telling Gai that I said he didn't have the guts to wear anything other than that green thing."

"Hey, his new outfit's an improvement on the old one."

"Lee's still a mini-Gai."

"They're working on that."

--ooo--

Haku sat in Kaemon's study, waiting for the interrogation to start.

"I'm not going to interrogate you." Kaemon finally assured the boy, "I just want to know how you feel about your new position."

Haku touched the metal-and-cloth band around his forehead and replied quietly, "I don't feel like I'm supposed to be here, and yet it feels right to be here."

"That will pass." Kaemon assured him, "Give it time. You have stepped past the point in the last cycle where you existed, so your psyche needs time to adjust."

"Last cycle?" Haku asked, confused.

"The major events that are happening now have happened before, or something similar has happened." Fuu explained, entering the room with a well-used and worn history book.

The poor boy was confused, but Fuu offered the book she carried to him.

Haku skimmed through the pages, reading things that no other history book would tell him, and then turned to Fuu.

"Where were you last time?" he asked.

"Nii-san was an orphan. I was never born." Fuu explained, "However, an apparition that looked like I do now was around back then, as if I _should've_ been there."

"So why me? Why am I here again?" Haku asked, "This should be a second chance for Konoha and Naruto, right?"

"Perhaps the universe at large decided to give you and others like you a second chance too." Kaemon replied.

"Hindsight has twenty-twenty vision." Fuu said calmly, "Those of us lucky enough to be aware that this is a second chance and to know what went wrong the first time are, perhaps, the ones who have the most chance to change things. We do not intend to relive history, Haku-san. We intend to learn from it."

--ooo--

"He's late." Naruto grumbled.

"You expected different?" Sasuke retorted.

"I'm gonna tell Bito-nii-san that Kakashi-nii-san is late again." Naruto decided.

"What good will it do?" Sakura moaned, "He'll just keep being late."

The trio were waiting on their usual bridge for their chronically tardy sensei to arrive. As always, he was three hours late.

"Maybe Rin-nee-san, then." Naruto decided aloud.

"Come now," Kakashi said from behind them, "I'm not bad enough to involve _her_, surely."

The three genin yelped and spun around to face their cyclopean sensei, who was smiling in the disarming/eerie way he always did.

"You're pushing it." Sasuke replied tartly.

"Well, I guess you don't want these then." Kakashi said, holding up three little slips of paper with the words CHUNIN EXAM APPLICATION written on them.

Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke stared at the slips, then at their sensei.

"Are you serious?" Sakura asked, "We're still rookies."

"So were eight of the Eleven when they first entered the exam." Kakashi replied, "I think you can do it."

"We're not our namesakes," Sasuke replied, "and there was an invasion that year, remember?"

"They proved their worth," Kakashi retorted, "and I never expected you to be your namesakes. Sakura, here, isn't even of a ninja family."

"Thank Kami for small mercies." Sasuke mumbled.

"What was that?" Sakura demanded hotly.

"If you came from a ninja family, then very likely you would've graduated ahead of us." Sasuke replied smoothly, "You're smart, Sakura, and a ninja family would've pushed for you to graduate early. As it was, your parents insisted on holding you back so you graduated with us and the others our age."

Sakura blushed. Her crush was complimenting her!

**Nice save, Uchiha.**

"Well, now that's out of the way," Kakashi said, "I'm giving you overnight to think about this. The exam's tomorrow."

"A bit late to be telling us about this, isn't it?" Naruto asked.

"Nope. This is traditional." Kakashi replied.

The genin were sceptical, but took the slips and went on their way.

--ooo--

"Chichiue?"

Minato looked up and saw Naruto standing in the doorway looking rather nervous.

"Yes?" he asked.

"Can we talk?"

Minato nodded and got up, shutting and locking the door behind his son.

"What's up?" he asked.

"Kakashi-nii-san gave us chunin exam applications."

"Ah yes, I remember him nominating you this morning."

"So I guess you know why I'm here."

"I need you to confirm that, Naruto-kun."

"I don't know if I'm ready."

"Why not? Kakashi's been giving glowing reports about your team."

"I'm scared I'll let Sasuke and Sakura down. What if I make a mistake and get them hurt?"

"This isn't like you, Naruto. You would've jumped at the chance to take the exam before that last mission. What happened that wasn't on the report?"

"I…"

"I can't help if you don't talk, Naruto."

"I messed up. I didn't keep control of my emotions and nearly got myself and Sasuke killed. If I'd been more careful, if I'd thought it through a bit more-"

"Ah! Now I see what's wrong. Naruto, there's nothing wrong with what you did on the bridge. If you hadn't jumped in, Sasuke _would've_ died."

"Eh?"

"Haku was following Zabuza's orders, and that meant removing the obstacles in their employer's path. Sasuke was standing between Haku and Sakura, who in turn stood between him and Tazuna. If you hadn't stepped in, then Sasuke would've died that night. Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses, Naruto. Yours just happens to be both at once."

"What do you mean?"

"You have a tendency to put others before yourself, on and off the battlefield. In a fight, this can be a good thing and a bad thing. You always keep an eye out for your team mates, but sometimes you forget the danger you put yourself in to keep them safe. If Fuu or Sakura was in danger, you'd help, right?"

"Of course!"

"What if they were both in danger? What would you do then?"

"I'd use kage bushin to save both of them."

"Right, and that's putting _you_ in danger. On a battlefield, kage bushin takes just a fraction of a second. That fraction of a second can be the difference between dodging a kunai and taking it in your body. Then you put yourself and them in danger."

"So I should only save one of them?"

"No! Nothing like that! You have to make whatever choice seems right at the time and then live with your decisions. You chose to step in and help Sasuke, and that's ok. What's not ok is second guessing yourself later. _That's_ what will get you killed."

"I don't get what you're saying."

"Have I ever told you what Nanadaime used to say?"

"Nanadaime? Sarutobi Konohamaru? No."

"He used to say 'I live my life with no regrets'."

"What does that mean?"

"Nanadaime always had a smile on his face, even when things got rough. He would make decisions and live with them. You know the story of Moegi and Udon, right?"

"Nanadaime's team mates."

"Right. The three of them had an agreement that none of them would fall into enemy hands while another of them lived. It was basically a murder-suicide pact."

"I remember that. They had specially made kunai that would destroy every trace of chakra and stuff in their bodies, right?"

"So you did listen in class."

"Only when I was interested."

"Well, they went on a mission when they were eighteen without Konohamaru."

"Only they never made it back."

"Right. A search team was sent out for them, and their bodies were brought back."

"They used the kunai?"

"_Moegi_ used the kunai. Udon was so badly injured that moving him would kill him, and they were deep in enemy territory. Now, this was after Rokudaime came to power and everything had fallen apart for Konoha. Moegi had to make the choice whether to keep Udon alive to possibly fall into enemy hands while they waited for Konoha to send help or to use the kunai on him and try to make it out without him. Whatever happened next we'll never know, but Moegi used the kunai on Udon and tried to make a break for it. Her body was found not far from where Udon's was, surrounded by dead enemies. She had been caught in her escape, and had died trying to get away. Konohamaru was left without a team, and yet he kept going forward in memory of them. He lived with no regrets because that was the only way he saw to honour the memories of those he had lost. He was the co-founder of the Uzumaki Philosophy with Inari from Wave Country, you know."

"How does that apply to me?"

"Whatever you do, you do because it's the right thing at the time. If Moegi stayed with Udon, they might've both made it out alive, but she chose to try and make it out without him because that was the right decision at the time in her eyes. Maybe Udon told her to go, maybe she regretted what she had to do, that's between them and Kami, but Konohamaru defended their decisions until he died."

"I think I get it."

Minato smiled and ruffled his son's already messy hair.

"Go with the gut. That's what I did at your age. Got me in a few scrapes, but got me out of plenty more." he said.

Naruto nodded and left, his mind made up.

"Nice storytelling, Minato-kun." someone said from the shadows, "I woulda embellished it a bit more, but if that's how you want to do it…"

"You're early, Sensei." Minato commented, turning to the man in the window, "To what do I owe this honour?"

"Just wanted to see how the hat fitted you." Jiraiya replied, "So that was your son, eh? You do realise he has a bounty on his head the size of Tsunade's-"

"That's quite enough, Sensei." Minato cut in, "I know he's got a bounty on him. It also went up after Wave Country because of his link to important people there."

"The bounty's higher if he's alive."

"I _know_, Sensei. I'm more worried about Fuu than I am about Naruto right now."

"Oh? Why?"

"She's eleven years old, a pre-genin, hangs out with some of the most infamous ninjas in Konoha-"

"I'm telling Gai and Sensei you called them infamous."

"-and she goes in and out of the Interrogation Unit like she works there."

"She really does hang around big people, huh? Anko, Kakashi, Gai, you, Kushina, Fugaku, Hizashi, Hiashi, Fai, and who else can you name?"

"The Hyoton user Haku, for one. What's to bet she worms her way into Zabuza's heart if he ever turns up here?"

"I don't bet on sure things."

--ooo--

Kankuro was wandering down the main street of Konoha, taking in the sights, when he noticed a girl watching him from the doorway to a teahouse.

She was a pale creature, albeit dressed in bright orange, but something struck him about her: she was watching him like a bird of prey watches a small animal.

He turned to her and barked, "What're you looking at?"

"I've never met a puppeteer before, that's all." the girl replied, walking over calmly, "You're from Suna, right? Why are you here?"

"Chunin exam." Kankuro replied gruffly.

"It's being held _here_? Chichiue didn't say anything."

Kankuro took a moment to process what the girl had said.

"You're the Hokage's brat?" he finally asked.

"One of them." the girl replied, "I'm Fubuki."

"Kankuro."

"The Juuyondaime Kazekage's older son, right?"

Kankuro was suddenly leery of the girl.

"I heard the Kazekage had three kids and I asked around." Fubuki explained with a shrug, "I figured I'd check out what I'll be up against when I graduate."

Kankuro nodded, and was fascinated by Fubuki's candid admittance that she was related to the current Hokage. He tried to avoid admitting his relationship to his Oyaji if he could help it.

Gaara turned up then in a swirl of sand, startling several shopkeepers but gaining not even a flinch from the Hokage's daughter or his brother.

"Kankuro, you were supposed to be back at the hostel." he said bluntly.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm coming." the puppeteer said, "I got sidetracked by this kid."

"Fuu!" someone yelled, coming down the street, "What are you doing here? Hahaue sent me out to find you. You were supposed to be home half an hour ago."

"Sorry, Nii-san." Fuu replied contritely.

Gaara stared at the newcomer, wondering why the boy felt almost familiar.

"You're Gaara, right?" the boy asked, "I'm Naruto." He stuck out his hand for the redhead to shake.

Gaara did so, and Naruto leaned in close.

"Kyuubi says that Shukaku better be treating you better than he did his last cage." the blonde whispered in his ear.

Gaara jumped.

"Nii-san!" Fuu bawled, "If we're any later then Hahaue will be even madder! Come on!"

"Chichiue can take a look at your seal after the exam, if you want." Naruto quietly told Gaara, "He won't mind."

The boy let his little sister drag him away, and the Suna brothers were left stunned by Naruto's quiet, roundabout, admittance of being a jinchuuriki.

"Hey," they heard Fuu say, "Konohamaru, Moegi and Udon were looking for you. They were hoping you could play ninja with them."

"I'll go find them after we go find out what Hahaue wants." Naruto replied.

"C'mon." Kankuro said finally, "Nee-san will want us back at the hostel. You gonna be ok?"

"I'll be fine, Nii-san." Gaara replied.

* * *

Yes, Gai and Lee are getting new outfits next chapter. Anyone want to speculate what they are? _I_ know, but can you guess? I just think green spandex is a bit out of date for this fic, so I decided to update their outfits.

Chunin exam coming up!


	20. Chapter 19

Late again! Although...I never did set an update schedule...

A shout out to WalkingDisasters, who reviewed within an hour or so of the last chapter going up.

Just as a reminder...

A quick guide to speech/thoughts:

**Blah. **Kyuubi talking to Naruto/thinking

"Blah." People talking

'Blah.' People thinking/Naruto talking to Kyuubi

_(Blah)_ Intext author notes, rare but do occur. Usually translations of jutsu or words that need to be understood in context.

BLAH Messages written intext, (see chapters 17 and 18 for occurences of this one)

Now, without further ado...I don't own Naruto.

* * *

(Abridged version of a report from Internal Information about Active Duty Ninja Team: "Team Seven", Second Reign of Sandaime)

Members: Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura, Uzumaki Naruto, Hatake Kakashi

Rank: Genin squad + jonin sensei

Individual member reports

Uchiha Sasuke: Last living Uchiha in Konoha (See ANBU report: Uchiha Massacre). Insular, but has started to respond to his team mates in recent weeks. Awakened his Sharingan during a recent mission (see Team Seven Mission Report: Escort to Wave Country/Freeing Wave Country). Early signs of emotional instability have mostly disappeared since his graduation from the Ninja Academy, however emotional stunting (see Ninja Academy: Uchiha Sasuke, age 9) are still apparent.

Haruno Sakura: Merchant's daughter. No specialty at present, but has been recommended to train as a field medic-nin (see Ninja Academy: Haruno Sakura, age 11). Obvious crush on Uchiha Sasuke. Signs of Identity Duality (see Ninja Academy Nurse Report: Haruno Sakura, age 9).

Uzumaki Naruto: Jinchuuriki. Officially in the care of Umino Iruka, chunin/teacher. Relationship between the two is under scrutiny (see Special Report: Umino and Uzumaki). Known prankster, but has never caused serious/lasting bodily harm or property damage. Constantly appears happy, but this has been questioned (see Ninja Academy: Uzumaki Naruto, age 7 and Ninja Academy: Uzumaki Naruto, age 10). Emotional stability under question (see Ninja Academy: Uzumaki Naruto, age 11).

Hatake Kakashi: "Copy-nin". At first glance, favours Uchiha Sasuke. Closer observation, however, suggests that this is not the case. Known to "invade" Uzumaki Naruto's home and encourage him to eat healthier food (see Special Report: Hatake and Uzumaki). Has been seen providing scrolls for Haruno Sakura. Favouritism of Uchiha Sasuke believed to come from Council pressure to train the last Uchiha. Still tardy, but has become less so since taking on this team. The resemblance of his new team to his former team (see Archive: "Team Minato") is uncanny.

Team analysis: Initial indications were of a disjointed temporary unit. Uchiha Sasuke applied no effort to understanding his team mates, Haruno Sakura was focused almost solely on Uchiha Sasuke, Uzumaki Naruto was argumentative and offered little or no personal information even when directly questioned (see Special Report: Uzumaki Naruto's "Loud Silence"), and Hatake Kakashi appeared more interested in his novels than in training the team. Since their mission to Wave Country (see Team Seven Mission Report: Escort to Wave Country/Freeing Wave Country), they have appeared decidedly more cohesive.

Future: This team, if trends continue, could be a Rapid Response team. Care must be taken, however, that the team does not fracture under the twin weights of Uchiha Sasuke's past and Uzumaki Naruto's burden.

(End report)

--ooo--

"You guys ready?" Naruto asked.

Sakura and Sasuke nodded.

They'd met up at the Ninja Academy, where the first part of the test was to take place, and they were checking everything they had brought just to be on the safe side.

"I've got a full pouch of shuriken, a dozen kunai, some senbon and a few energy bars." Sakura explained, "I'm also carrying a field medical kit and some chakra pills just in case."

"Shuriken, kunai, fuma shuriken, energy bars, chakra pills, explosive tags, compass and whatever my Okaa-san packed into the bottom of my bag." Sasuke admitted.

Naruto peered into the satchel he was carrying and said, "Camouflage cape, energy bars, chakra pills, the bag of tags Fuu gave me before we left for Wave Country, kunai, shuriken, antivenoms, blank scrolls, Haku gave me some senbon before I left home, ten metres of nin-wire, mirrors, and a field medical kit."

"Alright, then." Sakura said brightly, "Let's get going."

They entered the Academy and traipsed the crowded halls. Almost every ninja village was represented, even the newest ninja village of Yamagakure no Sato _(Village hidden in the mountains)_. Only officially recognised twenty years ago, Yamagakure was originally a ninja enclave situated in the mountainous region south of Fire Country, and was known for guiding caravans through the mountains and tracking down lost children as much as doing "real" ninja work. Their forehead protectors had what looked like shuriken on them, although they maintained it was a stylised four-point star that referred to how they originated from ninjas who travelled by night and navigated by the stars rather than by day using compasses and the sun.

As expected, Konoha had the most entered teams at about sixteen teams. Suna must've had about ten teams entered, Kumo and Kiri had at least seven each, Naruto spotted fourteen Iwa ninjas, there were two Oto teams that he had seen, and almost every other village had at least one team present. The only one Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke didn't spot was Amegakure, but they had their own internal examinations so that was to be expected.

"They let just about anyone take the exams, don't they?"

Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke spun around and came face to face with some old friends.

"Kiba! Hinata-chan! Shino!" Naruto chirped, "I didn't know you'd be here."

"Well, we are." Kiba retorted, "So Kakashi nominated you guys, huh? I thought he'd hold you back like Gai-san did Neji, Tenten and Lee."

"He thought we were ready, so here we are." Sakura said brightly.

"So we can see." Shino commented.

"We'll see you in the exam room, ok?" Kiba said, "I wanna go up and check out the competition."

**Check out the foreign kunoichi, you mean.**

As Kiba, Shino and Hinata went on their way, Naruto glanced around to find anyone else he recognised.

No one was immediately apparent, so Naruto followed Sakura and Sasuke up the first flight of stairs.

They made it quickly past the genjutsu that two chunin had set up, Sasuke's eyes and Sakura's smarts making it easier to identify although Naruto spotted the flaw: the door said that it was on the third floor but they'd only climbed one set of stairs.

They were almost at the exam room when they heard "Dear comrades! How good to see you here!"

Team Seven turned around and saw Team Gai standing behind them.

"Hyuuga-san. Lee-san. Baimiao-san." Sakura said in greeting.

"Neji. Tenten. Lee-san." Sasuke said.

"Neji! Tenten! Lee! I thought you'd be inside already." Naruto said cheerfully.

"We figured we'd see you here, so we decided to wait outside." Tenten replied.

"That's ok." Naruto said. He turned to Lee, took in what the boy was wearing, and said, "What happened to you?"

Lee was wearing camouflage cargo pants, a green short-sleeved t-shirt and had grown his hair out a bit rather than having a bowl cut, although the eyebrows were yet to change. It turned out he had a set of weights around his legs under his trouser legs, too.

"Gai-sensei changed his outfit, so I decided to follow suit." Lee replied, "This one is much more practical for me, I admit."

"Fuu told Gai that Kakashi said he was too scared to change his outfit." Neji explained, "Kakashi denies ever saying it."

"That's Fuu-chan for you." Naruto said proudly.

"I'm just glad they're out of the spandex." Tenten admitted.

"What are we heading into?" Sasuke asked, hoping that they knew.

Lee rummaged through one of the dozen pockets on his trousers and pulled out a scroll. On it was a map of the room they were going into, complete with where the chunin proctors would be seated and the seating arrangements for the genin participants.

"A _written_ exam?" Naruto bawled.

**Tough luck, kid. I **_**told**_** you to study information collection last night.**

"Of course. Why else would they send us to the Ninja Academy for part of the exam?" Sakura pointed out.

"Genjutsu exam?"

Sakura sighed and knocked the Hokage's son upside the head.

"At least _someone_ tries to knock some sense into him." Neji murmured to Tenten.

Tenten giggled, but quickly regained her composure and tugged on the hem of her pink shirt, surreptitiously checking the placement of her weapons.

"We should go in." Neji said, turning and walking away.

Gai and Kakashi were waiting for them at the doorway to the first part of the Chunin Exam. Gai wore an outfit almost identical to Lee's, the only difference being that Gai wore his padded vest over the top of the green shirt.

"You're here." Kakashi said, "I wondered if you'd been held up by something."

"We made it, didn't we?" Naruto demanded.

"That's true." Kakashi admitted.

"So don't worry about it." Naruto said coolly.

Gai geared up to give his expected pep-talk, but Kakashi surreptitiously jabbed him and said, "Didn't Fuu give you something for Naruto?"

"Ah yes!" Gai declared, "My beautiful snow princess entrusted me with this for her beloved brother!" He handed over an envelope and told Naruto to open it once inside the room.

"Thanks." Naruto said, eying his sister's slightly scrawled handwriting on the front of the envelope.

The six young teens headed into the room and the jonin disappeared to a room far from the exam room.

Mere seconds later, three genin and their sensei arrived where the eight had been.

"Do you remember the plan?" the jonin asked.

The three genin nodded.

"Kazekage-sama expects to see you in the third round."

"Of course, Baki." the lone girl and eldest of the trio said, "We'll be there. Tell Kazekage-sama not to worry. We'll play our part."

The two boys entered the exam room and the girl went to follow, only to be stopped by Baki.

"Temari," he said, "he is your father. Why won't you call him that?"

"He stopped being my father the day he ordered Yashamaru to kill my six-year-old brother." Temari replied.

Without further ado, she slipped past Baki and followed her brothers.

--ooo--

(Text found on cards confiscated during the Konoha Chunin Examination)

Name: Namikaze Naruto

Age: 13

Allegiance: Konohagakure no Sato

Team: "Team Seven" (team mates are Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura, squad leader is Hatake Kakashi)

Favourite jutsu: Kage Bushin

Strength: ninjutsu/taijutsu

Weakness: genjutsu

Missions:

S: 0

A: 1 (originally C-rank)

B: 0

C: 1 (pushed up to A-rank)

D: 38

Other data: Jinchuuriki, son of Namikaze Minato (Juuyondaime Hokage) and Uzumaki Kushina (jonin), older brother of Namikaze Fubuki (Fuu, pre-genin), one of the Ten (children of Konoha's elite-within-the-elite)

(End text)

--ooo--

"Naruto! Sasuke-kun! Sakura! Neji! Tenten! Lee-san!"

Team Seven and Team Gai turned to see who had called to them, and Sasuke found a purple-clad blonde girl attached to his arm.

"Hey, Ino." Naruto said, "So your team's here too? That makes all of us!"

"I saw Kiba and Shino before, and Hinata was scanning the room for anyone else we knew." Ino admitted, hugging Sasuke's arm tight and leaning close to his ear.

"The Oto team was asking questions about you." she whispered to him, "Be careful, Sasuke."

Sasuke nodded, knowing better than to question Ino's information. She might seem flighty, gossipy and very girly, but when Ino told you something was fact, it was _fact_.

"Naruto, who gave you that?" Choji asked, eying the envelope in the blonde boy's hand.

"Gai said it was from Fuu." Naruto replied, "I'm supposed to open it now."

He did so, and found a duplicate of what Fuu said was the exam paper.

"It's blank." Ino moaned.

"What do you mean? It's got everything written on it." Naruto protested.

"Mendokusai." Shikamaru said, "She's used a Chifuu _(blood seal)_ on it."

"Chifuu?" Sakura asked, "That's pretty advanced for an eleven year old, isn't it?"

"We're talking about Juuyondaime's daughter, here." Ino said, "If it can be done on a seal, she can do it."

Chifuu were a kind of seal that allowed only certain people to see what was written on a page. Like the name suggested, it worked through blood so only people whose blood was connected to the blood used in the seal could see what was on the page, be it another fuuin jutsu or the answers to a test.

"So she's trying to tell us something." Choji suggested.

Neji was attempting to use the Byakugan to bypass the Chifuu, only to discover that Fuu had left a message for him.

GET YOUR OWN!

Inwardly fuming at Fuu's audacity, Neji asked how she'd gotten the test answers.

"That depends on who's proctoring the exam." Naruto replied, "It can't be one of Chichiue's closest friends, 'cause that would give us an unfair advantage, so that means it's someone she knows but we aren't close to."

"So the infamous Ten and their team mates are here too." someone said, "I never thought I'd see all nine rookies here, at least."

A grey-haired Konoha ninja walked over, pushing his glasses up his nose.

For some reason, the rookies and Team Gai didn't trust him.

Sakura slipped away and got Kiba, Shino, Hinata and Akamaru. She had a feeling there was safety in numbers.

He introduced himself as Yakushi Kabuto, and warned them that the Chunin Exam was no playground.

"We know that." Ino snapped, "Don't insult us by suggesting we're kids."

"To a lot of people here, you are just children." Kabuto pointed out, "I'm just warning you that they won't go easy on you because you're young. They'll go harder for that very reason."

"Shouldn't you be with your team?" Sasuke growled.

"They can fend for themselves." Kabuto replied calmly, "I just figured I'd warn you guys about some of the competition."

He pulled out a deck of blank cards.

**Kid, get him to pull out your card.**

'What?'

**Trust me. When he shows you what's on the cards you'll understand.**

Pushing a little chakra into the top card, Kabuto showed them a map of where the various competing teams came from.

"Minor villages like Oto only have one or two team," he said, "but bigger villages have anywhere from five to ten teams in this exam. Konoha's Chunin Exam always draws plenty of competitors, because it's very comprehensive. It assesses mental and physical prowess, and both are weighted equally in the final suggestions for chunin."

The Oto team, standing nearby, bristled at the 'minor village' comment, but chose not to attack. Their leader had warned them not to make a move just yet, so they wouldn't.

"What're on the other cards?" Choji asked.

"I've taken the exam six times before, and I've gathered information on a lot of the…I suppose you could call them old hands at the exam. I've got a bit on the new ones, too."

To prove his point, he pulled out a card seemingly at random and revealed a picture of the red-haired ninja Naruto had met the afternoon before.

"This is Gaara from Suna, age twelve." Kabuto explained, "It's his first time taking the exam, but that doesn't count for much with his mission record. Mostly C-rank missions with a B-rank and a suspected A-rank, but I can't confirm that one. I heard another Suna team talking about him earlier, too. They say he's never come back with even scratches or bruises."

"Show us Naruto's card." Neji challenged.

Kabuto pulled out the card and pushed chakra through it, only for Naruto to whip it out of his hand and read it.

Naruto's eyes narrowed. Kabuto shouldn't have been able to get this stuff! He must've been going through hidden records to get this stuff.

"I'll take this." the boy declared, "I don't want to give away all my secrets just yet."

Kabuto opened his mouth to ask for the card back, but the jonin proctor of the exam chose that moment to appear in a puff of smoke.

"Alright, boys and girls." he declared, "I'm Morino Ibiki, and welcome to this year's Chunin Exam."

--ooo--

"I heard you're requesting a reclassification for your team."

"How'd you find that out?"

"Rin."

"I told her to keep quiet about that."

"So what's the deal?"

"They'll never be just another team."

"Anyone can see that, genius."

"I'm asking Sensei to reclassify them as a Rapid Response team."

"Are you serious? That's the deadliest team to be on. You know the saying, right? 'Rapid Response, Rapid Death'?"

"They can handle it."

"You're crazy. You'd be sending them into epidemics, battlefields, massacres, emergencies, situations where no one knows what's ahead, and have them tracking down missing-nins and assorted deadly bad guys."

"They can handle it."

"If they die, you're going to have over a lot of pissed off ninjas on your tail, including a fuin jutsu master-in-the-making and the Uchiha and Hyuuga Clans."

"I'll just have to make sure they don't die, then."

--ooo--

(Excerpt from _A History of Ninja_)

From Chapter 4: Specialist Teams

Of all the specialist teams of ninja, arguably the one most likely to end up in trouble is the Rapid Response team.

First formed between the Second and Third Ninja Wars, the original duties of the Rapid Response teams were to react rapidly, as their name suggests, to distress calls from non-ninja villages or ninja field bases. They consisted of a medic-nin and tactician to coordinate efforts, a fighter who would be inevitably the strongest member of the team physically and often a semi-decent handyman/woman, and someone with a decent knowledge of jutsu. If a fourth member of the team was present, this person often was a jack-of-all-trades who could assist anyone on the team or carry out their own specific duties such as patrolling an area or information gathering.

While these teams were often greeted warmly by those in trouble, they were frequently attacked. Black marketeers, warlords, missing-nins, rogue ninja and various other unscrupulous people saw these teams as threats, and often waylaid them or outright destroyed them. There were also cases of Rapid Response teams going into areas wracked by disease and succumbing to the illnesses they had been sent to treat, or of members going in to assist after natural disasters or wars only to die trying to save others.

Rapid Response teams have fewer KIA members than other specialist teams for the simple reason that they deal in the aftermath, rather than the actual fighting. Their duties, however, have spawned the saying 'Rapid Response, Rapid Death' because of the high post-mission suicide rate that accompanies their work. More than one hidden village has compulsory post-mission psychological assessments for Rapid Response teams, although this has done little, at the time of publication, to curb the suicide rate of these teams.

(End excerpt)

--ooo--

"Now I see why she got the info." Naruto murmured to Sakura.

Sakura nodded. Even _she_ knew that Fuu hung around the Interrogation Unit. It was no secret, just not widely spoke of.

"Everyone file down to the front in your teams and take the numbers the chunin, here," Ibiki thumbed at a chunin standing next to him, "gives you. Sit in those seats."

They did as commanded, most of them terrified of Ibiki but a few just aware that if they didn't they'd get in trouble, and took their seats.

Once everyone was seated, Ibiki took a piece of chalk and wrote a few things on the blackboard behind him.

"Ok." he said, "Everyone can see the sheet of paper in front of them. Here's the deal: answer all nine questions in forty five minutes and then we'll give you the tenth question. Don't let us catch you cheating. Everyone starts with ten points, and loses one for every answer they get wrong. You lose two points each time a proctor catches you cheating, and we know what each of the other proctors has seen. If anyone on your team has no points left, you all fail. Got it?"

The genin all nodded, noticing the chunin proctors lining the walls.

"When I give you the signal, turn over your papers and begin writing." Ibiki said, "Your time starts…now."

* * *

I've seen the concept of what I call a Chifuu in other stories, but this is what I'm calling it.

Yamagakure no Sato is my new ninja village, but I don't knowif anyone's used the same name or a smiliar one before. If you know of a story that has, please tell me so I can admit I'm not being totally original.

How do people like the "new and improved" Lee and Gai? Not too bad, is it?

Reviews are like chocolate: sweet and appreciated when you get them, but not necessary.


	21. Chapter 20

Sorry about the delay. Been busy. See The Last Promise chapter 5 (Toad Memories) for a better explanation.

Don't own Naruto, never will. I do, however, own my OCs.

Kudos to DemonTwins-Ichigo-Makuri for telling me where to find another Yamagakura no Sato. It's in Naruto: Kageken Specialist. Haven't read it yet, but I will!

Oh...Please remember that Kiba wrote _The Hated Hero_.

* * *

(Excerpt from _The Hated Hero_)

From Chapter 4: Invasion

Everyone knew Naruto was shit at written stuff. He made no secret of it, and his handwriting was terrible too.

He was also incredibly honest, not always a good thing for a ninja.

These two facts put together meant the first part of our first Chunin Exam was probably the worst thing he lived through for many years.

(End excerpt)

--ooo--

It was Naruto's worst nightmare: a written test where he didn't have a clue about the answers.

"Naruto-kun."

Glancing out the corner of his eye, Naruto spotted Hinata sitting next to him. He must've been pretty worked up not to have seen her before.

"Fuu-chan gave you the paper, didn't she?" Hinata asked, her lips barely moving.

Naruto pulled the now-crumpled piece of paper from his pocket and placed it on his lap. He checked the questions, and they were all the same ones.

**Gotta love Fuu.**

'Yeah. I owe her for this.'

"Here," Naruto whispered back, "I'll share the answers with you once I've written them down."

Ibiki noted how quickly the Hokage's son was writing, and how the Hyuuga heiress was only a beat behind him, and looked towards the proctor who was watching that block of genin.

The proctor shook his head, unable to pin them for cheating and at the same time sure they shouldn't know the answers.

Meanwhile, Naruto's friends were doing their best to get through the test alive.

Neji's hair, cut short after a recent incident involving ice cream, Hanabi and a dozen newly sharpened shuriken _(you can imagine what happened, but I might do a one-shot about that if anyone really wants to know)_, flopped forward to cover his face when he bent his head ostensibly to read the questions again. In truth, he was using his Byakugan to scour the room for anyone with the answers. He settled on Shikamaru, the brains of his friendship group, and hastily scribbled down the answers that he couldn't do himself with a mental apology to the boy he was copying off of. He'd done a few questions by himself, but some were beyond him.

Tenten had worked out a system with Lee for the answers neither one could get alone. Lee knew enough about topography, geography and battle planning based on these things to get some of the answers, and Tenten was a whiz when it came to trajectories and wounds, but neither one had a clue about hostage retrieval or identification of corpses in battlefield situations. They were using a pencil-tap code The Ten had developed, which Tenten had taught Lee when they became team mates, and quickly had a third involved in their discussion when Shino provided an answer for them and requested information in return.

Ibiki wished that whoever was tapping their pencil on the desk would just _stop it_! It was irritating. He suspected some sort of coded conversation, but couldn't pick up who was doing it. Neither could any of the chunin proctors.

Ino, identifying someone who was either a very good cheat or very smart, hopped into his head and memorised the answers on his page. Once back in her own body, she copied them down and checked on her friends.

Shikamaru was, literally, writing Choji's paper using a variant of the Kagemane he loved so much. Kiba was using Akamaru to get answers off other people as well as listening to Tenten, Lee and Shino's tapped-out conversation. Sakura had all nine questions done. Sasuke's eyes were red, so Ino assumed he was using the Sharingan, but he was having trouble getting the answer to one question from anyone around him. Knowing better than to hop into Sasuke's head, she'd copped an earful from him the last time she did it, she waited until he was utterly frustrated and then used a trick Obito had taught them: chakra writing.

Sasuke was surprised when a message appeared on the desk in front of him.

ANY LUCK ON QUESTION SIX? I'LL TRADE FOR QUESTION SEVEN.

The requested information appeared on Ino's page, and she rapidly transcribed it. It was the only question her "victim" hadn't been able to answer.

She responded with the answer to question seven, and left it at that.

She got a minor shock when a message appeared on her desk.

THE PROCTOR IN YOUR SECTION SUSPECTS YOU WERE CHEATING. BE MORE CAREFUL NEXT TIME, OK?

That was his way of thanking her, and she couldn't be happier.

At that point, Naruto requested permission to leave the exam for a moment, and was escorted out by a chunin.

When they returned, the chunin went up to Ibiki and mumbled, "He says that Yakushi Kabuto has information he shouldn't have on other participants, including first-time participants. Should I look into it?"

Ibiki nodded. Anyone with extra information about other participants, especially first time ones, was a risk. Even if they were from Konoha. _Especially_ if they were from Konoha.

Kabuto, to the delight of The Ten and their team mates, was forced to hand over his cards and lost six points instantly. He would be questioned later about how he got the data on those cards, because when the chakra coding was cracked they found information on the cards which was highly classified.

As time passed, Ibiki watched with morbid glee as the numbers dropped. Those who cheated too obviously were being whittled away to none, until finally forty five minutes had passed and he called a halt to the writing.

"Ok." he said, "I'm about to give you the tenth question. I've got another rule for you: this one ain't compulsory."

The genin were confused.

"If you don't want to take the question, you can leave now and end your Chunin Exam right here. If you do take it, though, there's a catch: Answer it right and you move on, but answer it wrong and you'll be banned from taking the Chunin Exam ever again."

Protests filled the room as genin accused him of being a sadist.

"Yeah? That's just me." Ibiki replied, "It's your call. Take the tenth question and risk being banned from the chunin exams, or not take it and walk away to come back some other time? Same as before, if one of you drops out the whole team drops out."

Many people, terrified by the prospect of remaining genin forever, chose to leave the exam with their teams.

Sakura began weighing up her options. Sasuke and Naruto would refuse to put their hands up, she knew, because they were proud. It was up to her. Was it worth the risk?

Sakura deemed it not worth the risk, but as she went to put her hand up a familiar voice rang out.

"I can see why you're the head interrogator, Ibiki-san."

Everyone turned to look at Naruto, who had his elbows on the table and his chin on his upturned palms.

"Oh, Namikaze-sama?" Ibiki asked.

"Fuu-chan told me there's no better master of psychological warfare than you." Naruto explained with a shrug, "I can see she's right."

"How so?"

"For one, you don't have the authority to ban people from the Chunin Exams." Naruto explained, "That requires more power than you'll ever have, like a Kage or other hidden village leader. For two, you know how to take control of a situation and make us believe your every word. From the moment you entered the exam, you've had power over us and you've used it. You made us believe every word you've said. Smart, but you never said we could never become _chunin_, just that we couldn't _take the exam_ again. That would've been more terrifying than never taking the exam again. I'm not a fan of paper tests, but this isn't just a paper test, is it?"

**That's my boy.**

The genin began to talk again, and Ibiki realised that the Hokage's son was right. Damn, why didn't he think of that?

"Is anyone else going to drop out?" Ibiki asked calmly.

No one else raised their hand. Naruto had encouraged them all to stay and try the tenth question.

"Well then, you all pass."

Stunned silence met his proclamation.

"The tenth question was a simple yes or no question: do you risk the unknown of the tenth question or take the safer method and drop out? As chunin, this is a question you will be faced with many times: Do you risk your life and the lives of your comrades to complete a mission, or do you take the safer route and opt out? Sometimes you can't not risk lives, because your decision is what decides who dies rather than if someone might die."

Ibiki took off his bandanna and showed them his scars, watching their horrified faces.

"We all make decisions, and we must live with them." he said, tying the bandanna back in place, "So you made the right one under these circumstances. You have passed the first part of the Konoha Chunin Exam."

As that was sinking in, someone burst in through the outside window.

--ooo--

"Ah! Masaru! Come in."

"Hokage-sama."

"Masaru! Don't call me that! I told you it makes me feel old. You're no older than me. My name is three syllables long. Repeat after me. Mi. Na. To."

"You know our positions demand at least a modicum of politeness."

"Of course, _Kazekage-sama_. Whatever you say."

"I trust you've been well?"

"Apart from the near constant headache from running Konoha?"

"Apart from that."

"Perfectly so."

"Your family?"

"Never better, although I do wish Naruto would stop bringing home strays. Have you heard about the latest one?"

"Not yet."

"I would've thought it'd be all the way to Water Country by now! He brought home a bipedal one this time."

"A bird?"

"No, a boy! A Hyoton user. You know Zabuza, don't you?"

"Who doesn't?"

"It's his apprentice. They met in Wave Country, and Naruto brought him back here. The paperwork I had to do to instate that boy as a Konoha genin must've been a thousand pages at the very least!"

"Don't exaggerate."

"Ok, so it was only a hundred or so pages, but still!"

"I hear your son is in the exam."

"Yep. Kakashi-kun nominated my son's team."

"You still call him 'kun'?"

"Don't you still call your former students that?"

"I never took on a team, remember?"

"Oh, that's right. You were never given the option…I heard your kids are in the exam too. Have you made amends yet?"

"They still won't talk to me."

"Sad."

"What were you doing before I arrived? I know it wasn't paperwork."

"Oh…Nothing."

"Liar."

"Promise not to laugh?"

"Do I ever?"

"Point. Ok, I'll show you."

"Why were you making a paper hat?"

"Naruto and I used to make them when he was really little. I've got a picture, somewhere, of him in a little orange romper suit wearing a paper Hokage hat. I'll show you, if you'll wait a moment while I fish it out from under this mountain of papers."

"They let you keep a picture of your son in your office?"

"Not officially. Why do you think it's hidden? Ah! Here it is. See? He's almost two here. I brought him to work because Kushina was on bed rest before she gave birth."

"Someone doesn't want to admit his son is growing up."

"I know he's growing up. Doesn't mean I have to like it."

"Do you think they made it through the first stage of the exam?"

"I don't doubt it."

--ooo--

Anko grinned. She loved making a flashy entrance, because it scared everyone.

"Alright, brats." she said, "I'm the proctor for round two of this exam, Mitarashi Anko."

Almost all the genin in the room stared at her like she'd grown a second head. The ones who knew her were either unfazed by her entrance or trying their best to keep from grinning at her entrance and outfit. She'd chosen the fishnet-and-trench-coat style her namesake ancestress was famed for, albeit with slightly more coverage under the fishnet. She usually wore shorts and a cropped t-shirt under her trench coat, so this was a little more revealing than she liked.

Giving her words time to sink in, she glanced around at the remaining genin.

The three rookie teams had made it through, although that was of little surprise to Anko. After all, she'd babysat most of them too often not to know how smart they were.

Gai's team were through, although it was obvious to Anko that Neji had used his Byakugan. He was good at hiding it, but Anko knew him too well to think he wouldn't use it.

The Suna "Sand-sibs" were through too, although Gaara gave Anko the creeps. Even if they were Juuyondaime Kazekage's kids, there was still something about Gaara that didn't seem _human_. And that said something, considering how the current Kazekage could be sometimes.

Kabuto's team were under close watch, she'd heard about his information cards already, and they looked distinctly uneasy. Honestly, she couldn't blame them.

One of the Oto teams passed too, the one with the bandaged boy on it, and Anko wasn't entirely happy about it. She'd heard rumours about them. Supposedly, that team had a reputation best described as "meet them and _die_". Add that to the intelligence they were getting from their spies about Oto planning to upset the exams…and the team was under surveillance at all times.

Maybe they were over reacting and nothing would happen, but they had to be very careful.

Indeed, Minato had ordered a constant surveillance of Masaru, who was an old friend of his, just because the Juuyondaime Kazekage hadn't responded right to something he'd said. Something about Masaru's kids.

"Oi, Ibiki." she said, "What happened here? There are seventy eight of them."

"There were exceptional circumstances," Ibiki replied, "and an exceptional crop of would-be chunin."

"Ah well, I'll cut it at least in half." Anko said cheerfully. She turned to the group and said, "Well, follow me kiddies."

She bounded out the window again, although the genin chose to head out the door and chase after her.

--ooo--

(Excerpt from _Children of the Sand, 15__th__ Edition_)

From Part 2, Chapter 14: Juuyondaime

When one claims descent from Kankuro, son of the Yondaime Kazekage and brother of the Godaime Kazekage, one had better be able to back up the claims with decent skills.

Masaru could do just that, although he seemed to take more after Kankuro's father on several occasions than after the puppeteer.

One such occasion was when he didn't oppose the creation of a "living weapon" for Sunagakure. His wife, Karura, paid the price for his inaction, and their last child, named Gaara by his dying mother in an ironic replication of the past, would live with the stigma of being a jinchuuriki forever.

He left the care of his youngest to his brother-in-law, Yashamaru, who was a loyal man but whom the newborn jinchuuriki could not tolerate. It was a well known fact that, when picked up by Yashamaru or certain other people, Gaara would shriek and fuss until put back down. Even Masaru was unable to hold the boy.

For whatever reason, the only people the newborn, Gaara, would respond to positively were his older siblings Temari and Kankuro. They were his world, and would be his staunchest allies in years to come after they witnessed the first attempt on Gaara's life by their own uncle.

For years after the three siblings became estranged from their father, Masaru would moan to his Konoha counterpart, Namikaze Minato, about how he had been a fool not to do anything before Gaara was born and for doing what he did when Gaara was six.

(End excerpt)

--ooo--

The genin stared at the imposing forest beyond the thin mesh fence. Was it just their imaginations, or were there things moving within the darkness between the trees?

"This is Training Area Forty Four." Anko said, "Better known in Konoha as The Forest of Death."

--ooo--

Ibiki gathered up the exam papers once everyone was gone, intending to use them for kindling later, when he noticed a blank sheet of paper on the chair where Naruto had been sitting.

Well, it wasn't completely blank. It had a little note scrawled on the top.

TELL FUU THANKS FOR ME.

Ibiki picked up Naruto's test paper, read the answers that were worded the way he'd worded them on the test paper he'd submitted for review and had cleared, and put the facts together.

"Looks like I have to change the locks and combinations on my office cabinets." he commented to no one, "We have a natural spy on our hands."

* * *

The paper Hokage hat and the orange romper suit are based on my current laptop wallpaper which depicts just such a scene. It's chibified and cute, so I couldn't resist putting it in. Google "Naruto wallpapers" and it shouldn't be too hard to find.


	22. Chapter 21

I am sooooooooooooooooo sorry about the wait. Uni has been insanely troubling, and this chapter refused to be written. I think my new OCs might be the case, so tell me if they come out ok. Thanks.

Yes, this is basically one long scene with a few time jumps in it. Sorry about that, but it was either cut it where I did or try and keep writing it as one chapter and I doubt you would've liked that at all.

Don't own Naruto, never will.

* * *

(Excerpt from _Places of Note in the Hidden Villages_)

From Section 2, Chapter 6: The Forest of Death

As anyone who has taken the Chunin Exam in Konoha can tell you, there is no training field more dangerous than Konoha's Training Area 44, which usually goes by the name The Forest of Death.

Surrounded by a chakra-enhanced mesh fence and guarded at all times, the forest is off-limits to genin and foreign ninja in Konoha for good reason.

If one _was_ to get past the security and enter the forest, one would face the very reason the forest was so named: the flora and fauna. With centipedes the size of horses, leeches like hunting dogs, predators large enough to take down full grown bulls, poisonous fungi masquerading as edible ones and no paths between the tangled, exposed tree roots and shrubbery that lives on the dimly lit forest floor, it's no wonder even some jonin are reluctant to train in the forest.

(End excerpt)

--ooo--

Every genin in Konoha had heard about The Forest of Death. Every _pre-genin_ had heard about it, usually in threats such as "If you don't shut up, I'll toss you in The Forest of Death and leave you there". Even some of the genin from other hidden villages knew its reputation, and right now they were all quaking in their sandals.

Anko liked that sort of response, but noticed a distinct lack of response from several people, including a Kusa ninja standing right behind Naruto.

Naruto yelped as a kunai whipped past his cheek, cutting him shallowly across the cheek.

"Heh. If you can't dodge that then can you dodge each other?" Anko asked, stepping close to Naruto and licking the blood away. "Be careful." she whispered to him, "A lot of these guys will want you dead 'cause of your old man."

Naruto nodded and wiped his cheek clean.

"You didn't have to lick me, though." he grumbled back, "I know to be careful."

A long tongue offered Anko the kunai she'd thrown.

"Thanks, but don't stand so close with that much blood lust pouring off you." Anko suggested as she retrieved the weapon, "Keep it reigned in, ok? You'll get taken out quick, otherwise."

"I'll remember that." the Kusa genin replied, "However, fresh blood does get me riled up. It's an automatic reaction."

"If you say so." Anko replied with a false smile. She patted Naruto on the shoulder and walked off to tell everyone about the consent forms and rules.

"Sign the consent forms if you want to keep going, hand them in over there," she thumbed at a hut, "and collect a Heaven scroll or an Earth scroll. Follow a proctor to a gate, and then wait for the signal. Once you're in the forest, you have to get the scroll you don't have, a Heaven if you have an Earth and vice versa, and get to the tower at the centre of the forest." She pulled out a map to show them, noting that Mini-Gai was rummaging through his pockets for a map. "You've got exactly five days from the time we let you in to get the scroll you need and get to the tower. Once you're in, you're stuck. We'll give you each a flare, but only use it if you're totally unable to go on. All three of you must reach the tower, _alive_, with both scrolls to pass this round."

"So we can drop out once we're in the forest?" Shikamaru asked, "When? Are there criteria for using the flare?"

"Once the stars come out tonight, you can drop out at any time." Anko replied, "If someone on your team is dead, dying or hurt too bad to keep going, you can use the flare. If you use it for anything else, expect to really get it from your mother when you get home, Shika-kun."

Shikamaru hated being called Shika-kun, but knew better than to argue with Anko. Or his mother.

"If you want Ino to whine about you dropping out 'cause you were too lazy to go through with the exam, then go ahead and use that flare tonight." Kiba murmured to the shadow-wielding genius.

Ok, so he knew better than to argue with Anko, his mother or Ino. They had too many embarrassing stories, one would pin him to a tree with kunai and leave him there, and the other two would nag him to death about their fights later.

"Right." Anko said, "Fill in those forms, go get your scroll and go find your assigned gate."

--ooo--

"Oi, Kakashi!"

"Yo."

"You ok?"

"Yep."

"Jiji…"

"What?"

"Kurenai sent me to find you."

"And you did."

"Come on. They're waiting for you."

"Who?"

"The other jonin. Who else?"

"I'm busy."

"I'm pretty sure sake and company trumps Mugen."

"To you, perhaps."

"You're reading **Kagirinai**Mugen _(Eternal Fantasy)_ again?"

"It's the best one."

"Sensei's sensei really _is_ a pervert, huh?"

"He's a genius writer."

"Still a pervert. Anyway, are you just trying to avoid Gai?"

"What gave you that idea?"

"Apart from the fact you're holed up in Naruto and Fuu's cubbyhouse-that-Gai-doesn't-know-about reading porn?"

"So?"

"The last time you did this was two years ago when half of Konoha had the measles, Gai was bored and Fuu was covered in spots and couldn't tell Gai to leave you alone."

"And?"

"You do realise Gai's worrying about his team, don't you? He's going over every map of The Forest of Death in the teacher's lounge, trying to figure out what's the quickest route to the tower, the one the fewest people are likely to use and what his team will do."

"That's his problem. I'm not worried about my team."

"Anko's proctoring the second exam."

"All the better for her."

"They think Orochimaru's going to try and invade during the exam."

"Oh?"

"The kids were given flares this year, so if anything happens they can call for help and get out."

"They're that worried, huh?"

"Yep."

"My three will be fine."

"Four words, Hatake: Orochimaru covets the Sharingan."

"… Shit."

"Yep."

--ooo--

The exam had begun, and Team Seven were deep within the forest already.

"Should we move fast or wait for a couple of days?" Sakura asked, "I mean… this place is dangerous but so are the other genin."

As Naruto opened his mouth to respond, a rustling in the trees caught his attention.

"We mean no harm." a willowy girl said, appearing out of the trees, "Don't attack us."

A four-point star was clear on her forehead protector.

"Who are you?" Sakura asked, "Why did you say 'don't attack _us_'?"

Two identical-at-first-glance boys came out behind the girl. They were probably twins.

"This has got to be your worst idea to date, Nagi." one of the boys mumbled.

**She sure doesn't look like a Nagi**. _(Calm or lull)_

"I'm Shidare Yanagi." the girl said.

_**That**_** sounds better.**

Naruto had to agree, the girl looked like a weeping willow _(shidareyanagi is a way to say/write weeping willow)_. Her long green hair came down to her knees at least and currently sported numerous leaves from The Forest of Death.

"Why're you here?" Sasuke demanded, bringing a kunai up as if ready to attack.

"Same reason you are." Nagi replied, "The exam."

"So shouldn't you be trying to take our scroll?" Sakura asked.

"We have a saying in Yama." Nagi explained, "If you live in the mountains, you know where the springs are."

"Eh?" Naruto asked.

**If you want to know something, ask a local.**

'Oh.'

"So why us?" Sakura asked, "Surely there were others you could've asked."

"You were closest." the second boy said candidly.

As good a reason as any.

"Who're you guys?" Naruto asked, "I'm Naruto, this is Sakura and that's Sasuke."

"You know I'm Nagi." Nagi replied, "These two are Kurou and Jurou."

Sasuke's eyebrow twitched. Ninth son and tenth son?

"Big family." one of the boys said, "I'm Kurou."

"How do we tell you apart?" Sakura asked.

"Jurou has a scar above his left eye." Nagi replied with a shrug.

It was true. One of the boys had a small, almost invisible, scar above his left eye.

"How'd you get that?" Naruto asked, eying the scar.

"Got hit in the head with a stray shuriken as a kid." Jurou replied with a shrug, "I was careless."

"You were six." Nagi retorted, "Shichirou should've been more careful."

"Shichirou-nii-san was nine." Jurou pointed out.

"Your _older brother_ gave you that?" Sakura squeaked.

"He still should've been more careful." Nagi said tartly.

"Nagi and Shichirou-nii-san don't get along." Kurou explained.

The Konoha genin nodded, and the six found a good spot to talk tactics.

"If we attack now, we're more likely to find someone with a scroll we need." Nagi pointed out.

"Everyone's still relatively fresh." Sasuke replied, "We'd be better off attacking tonight."

"Other people will be doing the same." Jurou suggested, "What if we attack in the early hours of the morning? No one will be expecting an attack then."

"Do we even know where the other teams are?" Sakura asked, "We might be wandering around for hours without any luck finding someone."

"Then we'll have to get moving and follow someone." Nagi replied.

"I'm really worrying about your mental health, Nagi." Kurou informed her.

--ooo--

"I didn't think it would be that easy." Sakura commented.

"Everyone was lulled into a false sense of security 'cause of the time." Jurou replied, "These three won't even know their scroll is missing until they get up, and by then we'll be long gone."

"So now we just need another Earth scroll and we can leave this place." Kurou said with a shudder, "It's creepy in here."

The Konoha genin had to agree.

"We need to set up a temporary base, and a password so we know that we aren't impostors should we separate and have to reconvene." Sasuke suggested.

"Sounds good to me." Nagi said, "You guys ok with that?"

"So what do we use?" Kurou asked, "It's not like you guys were taught the same stuff as us in Ninja Academy."

Jurou noticed what Sasuke had seen, and suggested that they used a common ninja poem or phrase that they could all memorise.

"You know I can't memorise in a hurry." Nagi complained.

"I suggest we use Ninki, then." Sasuke said, "We thrive in the chaos of the enemy tide. Quiet shinobi don't need dens to hide. Our only concern is to watch and wait until the enemy lowers the gate."

"That's the oldest trick in the book!" Kurou complained, "I mean, even a kid knows that poem. It's like Konoha's not-so-secret answer to finding out if you're really who you say you are."

"Speak for yourself." Nagi grumbled, "I can't remember it."

Naruto hated to admit it, but he couldn't either.

**Ah… Just like old times. Oh, wait. That means that…**

Something flicked past Naruto, leaving another mark on his cheek.

"Huh?" he mumbled, looking at where the offending object had landed, "A leaf?"

**Oh crap. Not this again.**

A sudden squall threw the six genin far and wide.

"Stay here." another competitor told his team mates, "I'll go after the Konoha team. The Yama genin are mere insects. Let them go."

--ooo--

(Yama saying)

Even a flea, if it bites, leaves a wound which can fester if ignored.

(End saying)

--ooo--

Kurou groaned and sat up, trying to figure out what had just happened.

"Are you ok?"

Kurou jumped up and grabbed a kunai from his leg holster. Even seeing that it was his twin didn't help.

"Tell me the password." he demanded shakily.

Jurou sighed and said, "We thrive in the chaos of the enemy tide. Quiet shinobi don't need dens to hide. Our only concern is to watch and wait until the enemy lowers the gate."

Kurou lowered his kunai. It wasn't perfect, but it was the best shot he had of believing it was his brother.

"Have you found Nagi?" Jurou asked, "I didn't see where she fell."

"Hey, guys." Nagi said, popping up out of a nearby shrub, "Sorry about that. You two ok?"

"Tell us the password." Jurou replied bluntly.

"Uh… something about thriving in chaos… quiet shinobi… dens… lowering gates?"

Jurou and Kurou shared a glance.

"It's her." they said as one.

"Which scrolls do we have?" Nagi asked, "I have a feeling we should really be heading for the tower. That wasn't a natural wind, or a genin-level jutsu."

Kurou pulled a Heaven scroll from his bag, and Jurou produced the Earth scroll they'd stolen only minutes earlier.

"C'mon, then." Nagi said, "Let's make for the tower. If we hurry, we can be there soon and tell the proctors what's happened."

"I doubt they'd let the Hokage's son die in their own exam." Jurou agreed.

"You figured it too?" Nagi asked.

"Figured what?" Kurou asked, confused.

"Naruto." Nagi said, "He's _Namikaze_ Naruto."

"Oh." Kurou said, "I thought he looked familiar."

"We should move quickly." Jurou said.

They bolted for the tower, never noticing that their conversation had been heard by a green-clad Konoha genin who promptly went in search of his friends.

* * *

If you happen to spot spelling mistakes, grammar errors, continuity bloopers or anything you want me to look into/rectify, don't desitate to tell me. I appreciate help from all sources.


	23. Chapter 22

Sorry about the delay (cue grovelling).

I know it was ages ago that I last updated, but things got crazy down under. I turned 21 in November, then had university exams (passed them all, thankfully), and then Christmas and New Year hit hard at my place, work's been crazy, and now we've just had a mini-heat wave of nothing below 40 degrees celsius for the last week or so. I've been in no mood to write, and this chapter was hard to write anyway and ended up somewhat lousy.

So, with that out of the way... I present for you the latest chapter of Don't Let History Repeat Itself.

I do not own Naruto.

* * *

(Excerpt from _Blood-stained Innocents: a treatise on young ninja_)

From Section 3: The Fight for Supremacy

It has long been a tradition of ninja that genin compete in a series of gruelling tests known as the Chunin Exams in order to rise through the ranks.

These exams consist of three parts, which vary from village to village, and the village which holds the exams at any given time is not fixed and seems to depend on who has the most influence at any time saying where they want the exam to be held.

It has long been debated in scholarly circles the effect these exams have on the psyches of the young ninja involved (ref: Honda, _Law of the Ninja: Kill or be killed_), but there is clear evidence that each exam produces a different kind of chunin (ref: Sakae, _Tracker, Killer, Hunter, Spy_).

It is said (ref: Shibuya, _Death Amongst the Trees_) that the best chunin are the ones that come out of the Konoha exam. It is this exam, supposedly, which looks at all aspects of a ninja's skill. Where Kumo's exams provide the best chance of promotion for tracker teams (ref: Sakae, _Tracker, Killer, Hunter, Spy_), Kiri's exams are notorious for producing assassin-type and ANBU-worthy ninja (ref: Honda, _Law of the Ninja: Kill or be killed_), and Suna's exam tests a ninja's endurance (ref: Hirano, _My Journey, genin to jonin_), Konoha's exam produces a far more all-round kind of chunin capable of surviving in many battlefields.

That is not to say that it is any less difficult on the young ninja involved, the average age of a Konoha Chunin Exam participant is in fact lower than that of a genin in the other exams (ref: Miura, _Requiem of Innocence: The Chunin Exam_) due to a perceived lessened chance of dying amongst the ninja community (ref: Kamida, _Opinions of Ninja_) and the preference of many jonin for their genin students to have experienced a Chunin Exam before entering the harder exams (ref: Araki, _Learning from Experience: a guide to being a jonin sensei_).

(End excerpt)

--ooo--

"Hokage-sama, another team has arrived at the tower."

"Oh? They're the second team in, then."

"They say they formed a temporary alliance with your son's team."

"And Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke aren't with them now?"

"Apparently the two teams were separated by a wind which was neither natural nor genin-level."

"So he's decided to strike in the exam."

"Hokage-sama, would you have us cancel the exam and reschedule?"

"No. Keep going, but watch the teams closely. We don't know who he's pretending to be or using."

--ooo--

Naruto was not a happy little ninja. First he'd been blown who-knew-where in the forest, away from his team mates and the Yama team, and now he was on the verge of becoming serpent chow!

When said serpent was at least a dozen times larger than you, you tried every trick you knew to get away from it.

Dodging every which way, Naruto asked Kyuubi for any advice he could give.

**Find Sasuke and Sakura. Fast!**

'Thanks for stating the obvious. I meant about the snake!'

**Run like mad and if it does eat you then multiply.**

'What?'

The snake took advantage of Naruto's momentary distraction and lunged.

--ooo--

Sasuke hid up a tree, warily scanning the surrounding area for any sign of his team mates or the Yama genin.

A familiar pink head appeared from beneath a bush, leaves tangled in the longish hair.

Sasuke landed in front of the girl, unsurprised at the speed at which she drew a kunai from her holster.

"What's the password?" she demanded.

Impressed, he replied, "We thrive in the chaos of the enemy tide. Quiet shinobi don't need dens to hide. Our only concern is to watch and wait until the enemy lowers the gate."

She lowered the kunai and almost threw herself at him, but stopped at the last moment. No need to ruin his opinion of her by doing something as childish as cling to him like she had done as a girl until Ino pulled her aside and told her not to.

"Have you seen Naruto or the Yama team?" he asked.

She shook her head, explaining that she'd been looking for anyone familiar.

"Let's get moving." he commanded, "We'll probably find Naruto up to his neck in trouble again."

Sakura giggled quietly. Naruto did have a penchant for getting into trouble, didn't he? Even she knew of all the times Sasuke had to drag his best friend out of whatever trouble he got into, but more than once Sasuke had acted as lookout while Naruto was pulling off his more audacious pranks like painting the Hokage Monument or gluing the furniture to the ceiling at the Academy. Stoic he may seem at times, but lacking a sense of humour Sasuke was not.

As they searched, Naruto popped up out of a bush and said, "Finally! I was starting to worry! You guys ok?"

Before Sakura could respond, Sasuke demanded that Naruto tell him the password. Something told him to be wary of the boy before him.

"We thrive in the chaos of the enemy tide. Quiet shinobi don't need dens to hide. Our only concern is to watch and wait until the enemy lowers the gate."

Sasuke threw a kunai.

"Sasuke! What did you do that for?" Sakura demanded, "He told us the password!"

"Exactly." Sasuke replied, "What would you expect Naruto to say?"

Sakura thought for a moment, then realised that Sasuke was capitalising on something she had forgotten about: Naruto had trouble memorising things the first time he heard or saw them.

Seeing the understanding in her eyes, Sasuke nodded and turned back to the enemy-masquerading-as-Naruto.

"Impressive." the boy said, transforming into the Kusa genin who Anko had warned about bloodlust, "I believe I was caught off guard. Did you know I was there?"

"Next time to want to listen from underground," Sasuke informed the other genin, "don't use a water reed tube in a bare patch of forest."

The genin smirked and thanked Sasuke for his advice.

"I underestimated you, boy." he said, "I won't do that again. You are him, but not him."

"What are you talking about?" Sakura demanded, clutching a kunai with both hands.

Grinning maliciously, the Kusa genin pulled out an Earth scroll and said, "I suppose you still need this, don't you?"

As he went to swallow the scroll, a kunai whipped through the air and nearly cut off his long tongue.

"Sorry, Sasuke," came the familiar voice, "but I forgot the password."

"Always have to make an entrance, don't you Naruto?" Sasuke retorted with a smirk.

"You know me." Naruto replied, jumping down to where his team mates were, "If I can do it with flair, why do it otherwise?"

"What are you covered in?" Sakura asked, eying the orange-clad boy, "Slime?"

"Snake juice, actually."

The Kusa genin eyed Naruto, trying to factor him into his plan, and decided to go ahead with it anyway. One more genin wouldn't upset his plan, after all.

Without warning, he set off a powerful genjutsu, trapping the trio in what appeared to be their own deaths.

As the genjutsu faded enough that they realised they were still alive, each thirteen year old reacted differently.

Sakura was frozen in place, unable to comprehend what had just happened. She'd always been pretty good at genjutsu, even Sasuke had acknowledged that she was better than him at casting the things, but this was so far beyond her skill level that she couldn't even reconcile its existence with everything she'd taught herself from childhood about the art of illusions.

Naruto seemed to shake off the genjutsu's effect, although he was still mentally reeling from the attack. He knew something was wrong, but he couldn't say what was wrong. This guy was just too powerful to be a genin, even a foreign one. Anyone that strong would have to be jonin, at the very least.

Sasuke felt nauseous, and it was only sheer force of will that let him retain his last meal. Something was wrong with this genin, he knew it, but he couldn't quite confirm it.

"Three little genin, caught like little rabbits in bright lights." the Kusa genin teased, "Ready to be picked off. One. By. One."

Naruto. Naruto? Naruto! Move you idiot! Do you _want_ to die here?

Naruto, however, struggled to even lift a finger as the outsider moved towards him.

The Kusa genin watched Sasuke reach for his weapon pouch, for anything that might help him, but knew it was no use. He was much stronger than the man whose name had become his own.

--ooo--

Anko stared at the three corpses before the stone men, trying to comprehend what she was seeing.

"Their faces…" the chunin who had come with her to investigate the situation croaked.

The three genins' faces, or lack of faces, told Anko exactly who was responsible for the deaths.

"Do we have identities?" she asked the ANBU who stood nearby. She needed to know if they were who she hoped they _weren't_.

The ANBU handed over three chunin exam passes, similar to the passports used by civilians. The Kusa emblem was embossed on the covers, and a very familiar face stared back from the mug shot in one of them: the long-tongued genin from before the second test of the exam.

"How long have they been here?" she demanded.

"The initial reports suggest three days." the ANBU replied bluntly.

"Before the exam began." Anko hissed, "Damn. We knew he would try something, but this… We never thought this would happen."

"What should we do, Anko-san?" the chunin asked.

"Hokage-sama wants this to remain quiet," Anko replied, "but we have to move quickly. How many Hunter-nin were sent into the forest?"

"Ten."

"Have they reported seeing Namikaze-sama's team?"

"Not yet."

"Damn. He's probably found them by now."

Without another word, she bolted off into the forest to try and find the man she once called Sensei.

--ooo--

Orochimaru snickered as he waltzed over to his prey, eager to mark Sasuke as his own.

Sasuke gripped the kunai he'd been able to reach, willing his body to move just enough so he could…

The Uchiha bolted, taking Sakura with him and slamming a fist into Naruto's side as he went.

The Namikaze boy followed his team mates, wondering what had just happened.

--ooo--

"What was that?" Naruto asked once they felt they were far enough away to be safe.

"I don't know." Sasuke admitted, "I don't want to go back and find out."

Naruto eyed the self-inflicted kunai wound on Sasuke's leg, the reason he'd been able to escape that bizarre genin, and asked Kyuubi for any info.

**That guy was locked away permanently a century ago! There's **_**no way**_** he could've done this! No way whatsoever! It's a copycat.**

'Of who?'

**Orochimaru!**

'Sandaime's student?'

**Who else would I mean?**

'Juusandaime's student was nicknamed Orochimaru.'

… **Crap.**

--ooo--

(Excerpt from _Leaves of the Hidden Tree, 17__th__ edition_)

From Part 4, Chapter 6: The Second Snake

Where he got his nickname was anyone's guess, but Maruyama Ryouichi certainly lived up to his namesake.

As cunning and serpentine as his predecessor, Maruyama left Konoha in the midst of war, seeking out the small and often ignored village of Otogakure no Sato.

Like the man whose name he claimed as his own, Maruyama "Orochimaru" Ryouichi took over the village and built it into a contender for power. His intentions were unclear, but many said he was trying to outdo the Snake Sanin.

(End excerpt)

--ooo--

A lone man waltzed up to the gates on Konoha, an oversized bundle strapped across his back.

The chunin at the gate stopped him and demanded to see his papers.

The man tossed the chunin a sealed scroll with a Konoha emblem on it and waited for the chunin to break the seal and read it.

"You'd best head straight to the Hokage Tower." the chunin said, "He's expecting you."

--ooo--

"So the operation was a success. I didn't expect you for another month or so, though."

"I heal fast."

"So I see."

"You're his old man, huh?"

"Not so old, but I am his Chichiue."

"Saw a few ANBU flying around. Chunin exam that much trouble?"

"An old… friend… of my sensei's decided to crash the party, you might say."

"I got two options, and I know she wouldn't set foot in Konoha if her life depended on it."

"Exactly. I can't stop the exam, either, because that would warn him that we know something's going on and he might push things forward. We know he already has spies in Konoha, but we don't know how many of his men he has here too. I think he's done something to the Kazekage too, but I can't say what. My hands are tied."

"Want me to go in and kill the bastard?"

"Not even you could kill him, I'm afraid. We don't know what face he's wearing."

"He's only got one."

"He has a tendency to borrow faces from people he kills."

"And I thought some of the trophies Kiri-nin collected were sick."

* * *

I realised around Christmas that this story is headed into AU territory with the latest Naruto chapters, so I will keep as close to canon as possible with several exceptions:

A: Kakashi will not die. That is a given because I set him up as Hokage in my story

B: Naruto does not become Hokage. Obviously.

C: Sasuke will be brought home eventually under the conditions stated previously in this story and Spiral Scar, the one-shot prequel detailing the aftermath on Naruto's death. Ie: Naruto mocks up some mission papers and fakes that Sasuke was sent on a "training mission" by Sandaime and incidentally killed Orochimaru and Itachi.

On a side note: I realised that the canon-Orochimaru couldn't be brought back without major explanations I couldn't write into my story, so please read the excerpt above from the "book" _Leaves of the Hidden Tree, 17th edition_ to understand who the Orochimaru of my story is. I don't know if people actually read the excerpts I put in or just skim over them, but some hold interesting aditional information that may or may not be relevant to the chapters I write.

Do the excerpts add to or detract from the story? I do like feedback if you review. Many thanks.


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